Brett Hodgson explains defeat to Castleford Tigers and bemoans ill-discipline

Things don’t get any easier for Hull FC.

Down on players and having conceded 60 points against Leeds and Wigan recently, the last thing they needed was a visit from the ex.

Former boss Lee Radford was in town last night and he masterminded a superb second half from his Castleford side to turn around a 18-14 halftime deficit into a 46-18 win for the Tigers.

It leaves Hull out of the play-offs for now and really struggling.

After the game, Hull FC boss Brett Hodgson dissected the defeat telling the Hull FC website: “We were nowhere near good enough in the second half, the game was there to be won when we went in at the break.

“At half-time, we spoke about starting quick and matching them because they’re a side that comes out quick after the break, but we just didn’t come back out flying.

“It’s difficult when you’re in a rut and you have to fight your way back out of it. The disappointing thing is that seemingly we felt it was tougher pushing and shoving than defending, three people receiving cards is just not okay.

“Our discipline effects everything we do. We’re not making this easy on ourselves but we need to keep fighting and keep playing tough.

“When you give that much field position up to a quality opposition, that will hurt us in the end, and it did. We only completed one set in-between 40 and 70 minutes, and you just can’t win games like that.”

He did however, remain optimistic about the play-offs saying: “We have ambitions for the play-offs, there’s still seven games to go, so that’s 14 points up for grabs.”

It’s going to be an up hill battle for the Black and Whites however. Leeds are in form as are Salford, Castleford seem safe inside the top five and Hull KR leapfrogged them last night into sixth.

A win next week against Toulouse is vital.

You can read Brett Hodgson’s full thoughts here.