Hull earned their first home win in 16 weeks to put an end to their recent run of poor form as they nervously overcame Salford at the KC Stadium.

The win, built on first-half tries from Gareth Raynor and Motu Tony, was their first on home soil since a 28-12 success against Catalans Dragons on February 27 and relieves the pressure on coach Richard Agar, who was given a vote of confidence on Thursday after presiding over a run of just two victories in 12 outings.

Six of those 10 defeats have come at home and Agar will no doubt be pleased to have seen his side get back to winning ways at home.

They have never lost to Salford at home in the Super League and avoided doing so here by shutting down man of the moment Richie Myler.

The Salford scrum-half is the most sought after player in the engage Super League at present and is currently mulling over a new contract with the club after his record-breaking performance for England in France last weekend. But other than setting up Jeremy Smith's first-half try, he was unable to impose himself on the contest.

With Graeme Horne and Willie Manu both returning from injury to boost Hull, it was of little surprise that they started well with Horne and Raynor causing Salford a number of problems down the right-hand side.

The effectiveness of the pair ultimately led to the opening try, which Raynor scored after eight minutes following a neat ball from Horne. It appeared as though Raynor may have stepped in touch before grounding his second try in as many weeks, although referee Phil Bentham was unmoved.

Danny Tickle missed the conversion but it looked as though he would not have to wait long for another attempt as Hull, visibly more enthused in defence than they were in their abject 37-22 defeat at Wakefield last weekend, kept Salford penned into their own half in the early exchanges.

That soon changed, though, as Myler laid on a first try of the season for Smith with a slide-rule kick that caught the Hull defence flat-footed. John Wilshere added a simple conversion and Salford led by two points.

Hull fought back well, with Jamie Thackray being held up over the line after a bulldozing run, before Tony eased their worries with a try eight minutes before the interval. Richard Horne did well to drag himself clear of the Salford defence before standing the ball up for the full-back who had the easiest of tasks in crossing the line.

Tickle slotted the goal to extend his run of being the only man in the competition to score in every game this season, before adding a penalty on the hooter to improve Hull's lead.

That lead should have been even greater after the restart as Graeme Horne chose not to pass to Raynor who would have scored the easiest of tries and went alone instead, with his run being relieved by Stuart Littler.

Another Tickle penalty on the 50-minute mark added extra comfort for Hull's lead, although that was quickly wiped out as Salford fought back with a try from Darrell Goulding.

Adam Sidlow had nearly barged his way over following a flat pass from Myler, before on-loan Wigan wing Darryl Goulding skipped in at the corner for a second Salford try, and Wilshere, whose pass set up the score, knocked over a touchline conversion to reduce the deficit to two points.

It took some strong defence from Stefan Ratchford to stop a third Hull score as Danny Houghton craned his way over the line, before Bentham saved the home side from going behind when he pulled Ratchford up for offside when he had scored after Tony made a horrendous error in allowing Smith's punt to bounce in front of him.