Hull FC boss Andy Last believes his side left themselves with too much to do in the second half in defeat to Wakefield Trinity.
The Black and Whites suffered a 36-10 defeat on home turf, but with the side being 24-0 down at the break, it was errors in the opening 40 that contributed largely to the downfall.
Davy Litten and Tom Briscoe both managed to get over the whitewash in what would be a far more equal second half, but a mix of injuries and sin-bins largely hampered FC in their quest for a sixth Super League win.
Assessing the overall performance, he said to BBC Radio Humberside: “It was a game of two halves. The first half, we weren’t happy with the way we performed. Defensively, they rolled us up the field far too easily. The mobility and the power of their pack really got them on the front foot, and we didn’t do a good enough job in stopping them.
“The physical battle, we certainly lost, and then unfortunately we lose Herman for 10 minutes, and they were very, very ruthless in that period and scored two tries. That took them to 24-0 at half-time.
“Half-time’s messaging was all about getting that physical side of the game right. Digging your shoulder in, turning the ball over in good areas and frontloading a little bit of energy in D to stop them being able to penetrate our defensive line, and I thought we did that in the second half.
“We showed that if you do that, we can compete, and the second half was far better and much more how we hoped it would have been.”
FC suffered two yellow cards on the night, with Herman Ese’ese and Jeremiah Mata’utia seeing yellow across the 80 minutes.
Trinity were ruthless in those periods, scoring four of their six tries whilst having the man advantage.
Last revealed that a combination of the yellows and injuries led to fatigue, which was ultimately why they couldn’t produce any sort of comeback.
He said: “We were struggling to control the speed of the ruck when we had 13, so when we lost Herman and Jeremiah for 20 minutes, it made things very, very difficult.
“There was disruption at the start of the game losing Will Kirby, and then we lost Amir Bourouh and then Jed tightened up again at half-time, so we were down to one fit body in that second half.
“You’re rolling people for 10 minutes at a time, and you’re fatigued. Your full defensive line gets fatigued, and we made some errors trying to overplay in that second half to try and get back on the scoreboard.
“It was tough. It was a tough night, but credit to the lads in that second half. They toughed it out. The scoreboard could have got really, really ugly, but to compete in that second half like we did, I was pleased with that.”
Hull FC injury update after Wakefield Trinity defeat
FC had their fair share of health concerns on the night, with Amir Bourouh and Harvie Hill both needing HIA’s in the opening 10 minutes.
Bourouh passed his concussion assessment, but was later withdrawn after having delayed symptoms. That meant that youngster Will Hutchinson had a huge task of playing extended minutes. Hill was able to pass his, but his 15-minute absence still played a part in hampering the interchange rotation.
Last said: “It really disrupted our interchanges. We’ve got a couple of guys that we are nursing back to full fitness from long-term injuries, so that disrupted your ability to rotate them.
“Losing your nine, and Amir played a very, very strong game last week against Huddersfield, we lost him early to a HIA. He was able to go back on, but then his vision became impaired, and he was struggling to see out there.
“That was challenging, and then losing Harvie early doors. Harvie’s obviously our minutes man in the middle.
“We lost him, so that impacted, and then losing poor Will Kirby… we lose him, and he’s not able to go back.
“At half-time, we were down to one fit body, which was a middle, and a middle who doesn’t have much flexibility and versatility in the position he can play, so it was a very challenging second half and a challenging half-time.
On Kirby’s issue, Last revealed: “It’s a knee. It’s a possible MCL, maybe even an ACL, so he’s in a really, really bad way, is Will. He’s quite distraught really, which is terrible for a young lad.”
The boss revealed that Cartwright, who didn’t play in the second half, felt muscle tightness, and the club were aware of managing the load of the back rower who has only recently returned from a long-term spell out.
