John Cartwright lauded Hull FC’s top-six credentials after a battling 22-22 draw at home to Leigh Leopards in Thursday’s Betfred Super League Round 4 opener.
A dramatic night at the MKM Stadium saw the Black and Whites overcome being down to 11 men at one point after Aidan Sezer and Jordan Rapana were sin-binned within four first-half minutes of each other, and being under pressure for large parts of golden point extra time to snatch a share of the spoils.
The draw put last season’s 11th-place finishers fourth in the early-season standings, with five matches of Round 4 still to to be played, and Cartwright has seen enough to be convinced Hull FC can still be in the play-off mix come the end of Round 27 in September.
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“I certainly believe so,” Cartwright told Sky Sports.
“From the moment I stepped in, the first day of training, and the squad we have, I definitely believe we’re a top-six side.
“There’s a long way to go and a lot can happen, but if we keep all these boys healthy they’re going to be hard to beat.”
Cartwright’s son Jed got the hosts up and running with the game’s first try, although Tesi Niu and Umyla Hanley’s tries plus a penalty and conversion from Gareth O’Brien put Leigh ahead.
Hull FC were able to stay within a converted score at half time, trailing 12-6, thanks to stand-in kicker Jordan Lane’s penalty while Sezer was on the sidelines.
Two second-half tries, one of which was converted, from livewire Leopards full-back David Armstrong were cancelled out by Harvey Barron, Herman Ese’ese and Lewis Martin, with Sezer seeing a touchline conversion from the latter to win the game in the dying minutes hit the post.
Hull FC, who ended on the wrong side of a 7-6 penalty count and had several inconclusive captain’s challenges go against them, then had to dig in during golden point, with Brad Fash notably coming up with a superb block to deny Lachlan Lam a game-wining drop goal.
Tom Briscoe, one of a clutch of former Leigh players now with the Black and Whites, hailed the attitude shown by his team which he believes auger well for the rest of the campaign.
“It was a real tough game and those are the efforts you want in close games,” Briscoe told Sky Sports.
“We need those to charge the drop goal down and it saved us a point in the end.
“There is a lot of confidence within us. We’re two out of three before this game and, in this one, we get a draw.
“I think at the start of the season we’d have taken that, so just getting the confidence going throughout the season now.”
In contrast to last year when they won just three matches and finished above bottom side London Broncos on points difference, Hull FC have compiled a won two, lost one and drawn one record from their opening four games.
That includes an eye-catching opening-round 24-4 win over Catalans Dragons in Perpignan and a hard-fought 11-10 victory away to Huddersfield Giants, with Cartwright praising the club’s recruitment, which included Liam Watts and Liam Knight being added to their pack this week, as a big part of their early-season revival.
“We’ve brought some hard-edged people in who know what it takes to win on and off the field,” Cartwright, whose side aiming to avenge a 46-4 Round 2 defeat against Wigan Warriors in the Betfred Challenge Cup fourth round next week, said.
“It was a good, tough off-season, we got most of the players in there and spent some time together.
“I couldn’t be happier with a draw – if you can be happy with a draw.
“They just worked so hard from each other, showed plenty of spirit, and we’ve still got room to improve.”
