Craig Hall scored a hat-trick as Hull recovered some of their lost pride to put a serious dent in Harlequins' play-off ambitions with a convincing win at the KC Stadium this evening.

Having been branded as 'amateur' by captain Lee Radford in the build-up to the game following the end of their own play-off hopes last weekend, Hull's players responded in the best possible way as they cruised to their biggest win of the season.

The result leaves the Quins in danger of missing out on a top-eight place.

Brian McDermott's men have spent most of the season nestled in the play-off positions and came into the game knowing they could regain one of those places with a victory, despite a run of just one win in nine.

But, after this latest reversal, they will need other results to go for them over the remainder of the weekend to keep their hopes alive.

Hull's defeat to the Catalans Dragons last weekend confirmed the death of their own play-off chances, with 15 league defeats undoing the good work early in the season that had taken them to the top of the table in March.

They showed no sign of a hangover here, though, and immediately shot into a 16-point lead with just 15 minutes on the clock.

Their first try came five minutes in, with Tommy Lee getting on the end of an improvised kick from Mark Calderwood, with the winger set free by Danny Washbrook who was back after three and a half months out through injury.

Tom Briscoe, another to have his season ruined by fitness problems, was the next to score, coasting in at the corner after Quins winger Will Sharp inexplicably coughed up possession close to his own line with no other player around him.

With the visitors shell-shocked, Hull quickly made it three tries in 10 minutes, with Willie Manu slicing their defence open to set Hall racing clear.

Hall was jettisoned on loan at Widnes for most of his side's mid-season slump but was soon adding his fourth try in five games since returning as he took in another Washbrook pass and cantered clear of the dormant Quins defence.

The try brought up 200 points for Hall in his Hull career, with Danny Tickle kicking his third and final conversion from the touchline.

The closest the visitors came to scoring before the half-time hooter was when captain Rob Purdham had a 'try' disallowed by Phil Bentham after he was deemed to be offside when taking in Danny Orr's kick.

Hull continued to impress after the break, with Orr doing well to stop Washbrook close to the line, while at the other end Lamont Bryan should have dragged the Quins back into it, only for him to try an offload rather than touch the ball down following Luke Gale's break.

Debutant prop Epalahame Lauaki's aggression helped Hull to continue to move forward and on the back of another error from Bryan, this time close to his own line, they added a fifth score as Hall clung on to Washbrook's latest flat pass to spin his way over for a deserved treble.

Sharp then scraped over in the corner with 17 minutes remaining to get the Harlequins on the board but they were unable to mount a serious fightback.