St Helens maintained their lead at the top of the Super League with an emphatic win over Hull.

They were always in command and the final scoreline would have been more emphatic had they not dropped off a little in defence late in the second half.

Although Saints dominated the early exchanges, the first real scoring chance of the game fell to the visitors with winger Graeme Horne hacking on a loose ball from Matt Gidley and he was only just beaten by the dead ball line.

The league leaders remained in the ascendancy and they inevitably cracked the Hull defence when big prop Tony Puletua powered over from dummy-half on nine minutes.

Sean Long, back in the side after a three-match absence, slotted the extras to put an end to Saints' goalkicking troubles of recent weeks.

Three minutes later Saints doubled their advantage when Lee Gilmour stretched over for a try after good work in the build-up from Keiron Cunningham and Leon Pryce.

The one-way traffic continued, with Saints monopolising territory and they added to their tally when Jon Wilkin zipped in on the left after neat work in the build-up from Pryce.

Hull then enjoyed their best spell of the match to stem the Saints scoring tide and managed a score of their own which came from a home attack.

St Helens were flashing the ball across the width of the pitch when the ball was somehow intercepted by Horne, who sped the full length of the field, holding off Long's chase to touch down.

Danny Tickle's conversion went in off the post and suddenly it looked as though the game was going to spark into life.

But Saints had the last word in the half with Pryce sending Paul Wellens slicing through on the left, with Long's conversion making it 22-6 at the interval.

Two minutes after the restart a barnstorming break from Puletua was polished off by the supporting Pryce to end the game as a contest.

Both sides had plenty of opportunities to show their attacking flair, but the game was already over by the time Willie Manu stormed over.

Kyle Eastmond scored with his first touch of the ball from good work from Pryce.

Eastmond then turned provider when he sent youngster Chris Dean in. Wingers Mark Calderwood and Ade Gardner swapped scores, whilst Eastmond and Horne both grabbed their seconds of the afternoon.