Hull Kingston Rovers underlined their status as a growing force in the engage Super League with another derby day success over bitter rivals Hull FC at the KC Stadium this afternoon.

Justin Morgan's men have now won six of the nine meetings between the two since their return to the top flight in 2007 and this thrilling win provided further evidence they could be equipped to match Morgan's prediction that they are capable of winning the competition this season.

Their success, in front of a raucous crowd of 22,337, was built on an outstanding individual display from their scrum-half Michael Dobson, a man whose signature they captured ahead of Hull last May.

Hull, who have now lost four straight games after winning their first five, must have wished for someone of Dobson's class in the middle of the park as he bobbed and weaved his way around their defenders all afternoon.

Hull got off to the worst possible start with Danny Tickle's kick-off flying out on the full and their visitors made them pay in the most ruthless of styles.

With their first set of six they made good yards down field and, when Dobson punted a high ball in the air, Jake Webster rose above a flailing Kirk Yeaman to gather the ball and plant it over the line for his third try of the season.

Dobson, the form scrum-half in the competition, added the goal but was guilty of squandering the chance of a further score minutes later.

He did well to intercept a high pass from Craig Hall and sent Webster racing towards the posts but when the centre returned the ball to Dobson to finish the move he fumbled it by his ankles.

Hull gradually worked their way back into the game and Tickle had a try ruled out by the video referee when it was deemed that Welham had held him up after a neat Richard Horne sidestep created a gap.

But they did open their account on the 20-minute mark through Tom Briscoe's fourth score of the season. Hall attacked Rovers' right-hand defence and fed Yeaman, who kicked ahead, and, with Ben Galea the only covering defender, Briscoe was able to nip in and score, although Tickle did miss the conversion.

Rovers extended their lead with 26 minutes gone, with Paul Cooke scoring his first try against his former employers with a smart show-and-go move close to the line, allowing Dobson to covert from out wide.

The diminutive Australian was soon in the thick of the action again, with a field-length run relieved by a Mark Calderwood tackle, before seemingly putting through a kick for Welham to score, only for the centre to fail to ground the ball correctly.

Rovers should have had a third try before the break and were unfortunate when Dobson, again, was halted by Hall after a nippy run, forcing them to settle for a 12-4 half-time lead.

The deserved touchdown came five minutes after the break, though, as Hull's defence crumbled at the feet of a raging Galea and, after he was halted, Peter Fox simply picked one of a number of gaps in which to score his eighth try of the season.

Hull hit back with a fine solo effort from Shaun Berrigan out of the dummy-half with 25 minutes to go and Rovers began to show signs of fallibility, conceding uncharacteristic penalties and failing to put the game to bed despite copious amounts of possession.

And the home side took full advantage when they reduced the deficit further 15 minutes from the end when Calderwood kicked ahead for Richard Whiting - back from a year out with a broken leg - to slide in and score, although Tickle again failed to convert.

That made for a frantic finale, with both sides producing a number of errors at crucial times, but Rovers held on.