Super League review: Huddersfield Giants keep top-four pressure on, Castleford climb to third
A review of Friday's action in the Betfred Super League, as Huddersfield closed the gap on the top four and Castleford saw out a hard-fought win.
Huddersfield Giants 26-6 Hull FC
In-form Huddersfield Giants kept their slim hopes of securing a top-four Super League finish alive with a hard-fought 26-6 victory over plucky Hull FC.
Head coach Simon Woolford's men made it 11 wins out of 12 and six on the trot as they remained within striking distance of the leading Super 8s pack.
At the same time, it was another night of frustration for injury-hit Hull, who started the game brightly but ended up suffering their sixth successive defeat as their season continues to peter out in disappointing fashion.
The sides were locked at 0-0 at half-time after a 40-minute battle where neither team was able to create a clear-cut opening.
There was no denying Alex Mellor within three minutes of the restart, however, with former Giants centre Josh Griffin losing the ball close to his own side's tryline and Danny Brough quickly following up to send his forward over.
Brough landed the conversion and repeated the act just two minutes later after Adam O'Brien's lightning dart set up the supporting Lee Gaskell to finish off under the posts.
A 51st-minute Brough penalty took the home side three scores ahead, and at that stage Hull were on the ropes.
But Bureta Faraimo renewed the Black and Whites' hopes by scoring a try out of nothing as he barged defenders out of the way in a barnstorming run to the line and then added the extras to reduce the deficit.
That set up a tense 20-minute spell, with both sides looking to gain the ascendancy, and it took a strong run from Jermaine McGillvary to finally settle the outcome as he charged to the posts and fed Ryan Hinchcliffe to grab the Giants' third converted try.
With the visitors' resistance finally broken, Ukuma Ta'ai took full advantage by crashing over from close range with five minutes remaining and, with Brough withdrawn from the contest, Darnell McIntosh landed the conversion to seal yet another Giants success under Woolford.
Castleford 28-18 Warrington
Castleford marked the one-year anniversary of their maiden League Leaders Shield victory by climbing into third place following a hard-fought 28-18 win against Warrington.
Twelve months to the day since defeating arch-rivals Wakefield to secure a first league crown in their 91-year history, the Tigers ensured their fans were celebrating once more as they ran in five tries to close the gap to just one point behind second-placed Wigan.
Winger James Clare opened the scoring on his 100th career appearance to put the hosts ahead before a Jamie Ellis penalty and tries from Junior Moors and Greg Eden gave Castleford a comfortable 16-0 half-time lead.
Warrington made a fist of a comeback with quickfire tries from Stefan Ratchford and Bryson Goodwin to reduce the scoreline to 16-12, but Castleford were a class apart as Eden crossed once as did Mike McMeeken, with Ratchford grabbing a late consolation try.
The defeat for Steve Prices men came at a cost, as Mitch Brown and Tyrone Roberts picked up injuries ahead of next week's Challenge Cup final with Catalans Dragons.
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