Last night Hull FC may have lost once again but the manner of the defeat was a world away from their last defeat against Salford Red Devils.
Last week they lost 60-14 against the Red Devils whilst last night they really battled with the Champions St Helens.
Subsequently, Tony Smith was incredibly proud of his side.
“They were good tonight. I thought Saint were very good tonight, they had to be and they came up with some very good stuff,” Smith said on Sky Sports.
“We made them work. Last week we didn’t make opponents work to the levels that we should and today Saints had to work really hard to come up with some really good plays.
“We gifted them some, one before halftime. I don’t mind the short dropout, I thought that was a good tactic it is just some systems in place for if the opponents get it then we are covered and unfortunately we didn’t have that system in place which was a shame to go in at halftime behind.
“We were probably as good as each other in the first half. It was two teams battling it out, I thought Saints just edged that second half but it could have been a different scoreline if Brad had been able to control the ball but they’re ifs and buts.
“We’ve come away with a whole lot. If we can maintain those standards and levels, we will win plenty of games throughout the year.
“We needed to get some of those standards back and the challenge is now is to maintain that.”
As hinted at by Smith, the challenge for Hull now is to be consistent.
When this was put to him by Jenna Brooks however he suggested that almost every team in Super League is inconsistent:
“We need to keep working hard and keep putting in those performances. Inconsistency for Hull but it is for a whole lot of other teams. Only St Helens in the last few years have been consistent the rest have had their ups and downs and patches.
“We’re all out there chasing them. It is up to us to shake off that inconsistent tag. Tonight was the step in the right direction.”