Hull FC coach John Cartwright wasn’t happy with his side’s performance in their win over Huddersfield Giants but thought they hung in right to the end.
The Black and Whites managed to grind out an 11-10 victory over the Giants at the John Smith’s Stadium on Friday night.
An Aidan Sezer drop goal was the difference between the two sides but Hull FC were outplayed for most of the game.
Huddersfield coach Luke Robinson called his side ‘dumb’ following their loss as he was unhappy with how they couldn’t seal a victory.
Cartwright spoke to Sky Sports after the game and said: “I suppose that’s only the real pleasing thing about the result, we never looked like winning.
“I thought they outplayed us in most areas but it’s a skill too to be able to hang in there when momentum’s against you.
“It takes a lot of courage and they’ve worked hard for each other but we’ve got a lot to work on.”
Whilst he didn’t enjoy the match, he was pleased that they managed to take the win but not by their performance.
He added: “You never get the perfect game, do you? You want to get close to it but there’s also the other side of the game in, where you’ve just got to hang in and stop the other side from scoring.
“It could’ve got away from us a bit, we looked okay with the ball but we didn’t look like pulling them apart.
“I thought with the tries we did, it was a scrappy one. Defensively, we kept turning them away, we didn’t play real smart, we gave some penalties away, some six to go’s, some errors but they got the job done.”
He wasn’t impressed by his side’s ill-discipline but was glad that they stayed in the fight until the very end.
He continued: “It’ll win you a lot of games too, you’ve got to keep brushing up in those areas with the ball.
“I thought we sort of left a few opportunities out there but if we’re going to win mostly games like that early in the season.
“They’re won in that way so your precision with the ball gets better as the season rolls on hopefully. But then our defensive grit, we’ve got to keep showing that.”
Hull FC coach Cartwright and his players face Leigh at home, with the Airlie Birds looking for their first home win and Leigh looking for their fourth win on the bounce.
Cartwright talked about his squad, with two new signings raring to go in Liam Knight and Sam Eseh, and looked ahead to their next fixture.
He added: “Jed’s not far away, Zak Hardaker’s probably another week or two away but Liam Knight’s come to us. Big Sam Eseh’s come to us too so we’ve got some options there.
One positive he did take from the game was the travelling support, which was vocal throughout the game.
Cartwright finished:Â “I really think they got us home in the end, we were out on our feet at various stages and every time we looked like doing something.
“They just roared and I thought they really assisted in getting us over the line.”
