By IAN JUDSON
HULL FC finished their pre-season preparations with a spirited display at the Brick Community Stadium against Wigan.
Lewis Martin grabbed another hat-trick on this ground having done the same in the Challenge Cup victory last season.
Hull were just unable to chase down a Wigan lead in the end, but left with plenty of positivity and much promise for the season to come.
Team News:
John Cartwright started with many of his first team on duty at The Brick Community Stadium for their last pre-season friendly.
Aidan Sezer and John Asiata were not in the squad, but are expected to be fit and ready for the first Betfred Super League game of the season against Bradford Bulls on February 14.
Jake Arthur and Joe Batchelor made their first appearance for the Airlie Birds while a host of regulars came into the team.
The Match:
Wigan kicked the game off after an emotional entrance for Liam Marshall, with both sides providing a guard of honour for the popular winger.
An early penalty provided Hull with a platform to try some training ground moves, which ended with a Jake Arthur kick being dealt with by the Warriors.
Marshall made some early impressions on the proceedings as he caught a couple of high kicks, returning the first particularly effectively.
Wigan were handed territory and possession from back-to-back penalties, but Zach Eckersley was forced into touch on the final tackle.
Marshall then attempted an interception as the ball was moved wide, but he couldn’t keep hold of the ball, handing Hull an attacking scrum.
Hull also wasted that opportunity with possession coughed up in front of the Wigan line in typical pre-season fashion.
Mistakes kept coming from both sides in the early stages as they were clearly trying to blow off cobwebs from a long off-season, but with no shortage of endeavour.
Wigan were given back-to-back penalties in the Hull danger zone, but another dropped ball wasted the chance.
The match continued at something of a pedestrian pace as it entered its 2nd quarter with nobody taking any great risks.
Fittingly, however it was the testimonial man who grabbed the first try in the 23rd minute as he was left unopposed wide on the Wigan left edge, Adam Keighran added the goal.
Hull struck straight back just seven minutes later as Lewis Martin ran in from a wide pass by Will Pryce, with the provider bringing the scores level with the boot.
Hull were forced to drop out from under their own posts and Wigan thought they had scored from close range, but were adjudged to have been held up over the line.
The rest of the half was an entertaining affair, within the confines of a pre-season kick about in which there wasn’t even a clock, so journalists including myself had to use our own stop watches to keep up to date with appropriate timing.
As predicted, Hull made wholesale changes during the break, with a very different line-up taking to the pitch for the 2nd half, including Elliot Middlemass who had scored two tries on his debut the previous week.
The early stages of the half were quite high energy from both sides, particularly from the young Airlie Birds who were trying to make an impression ahead of a Challenge Cup tie at Salford.
Wigan took the lead against the run of play after a break from Jai Field set up the chance for Junior Nsemba in the 47th minute, despite the spirited attentions of teenage fullback Lloyd Kemp.
Mistakes kept coming from both sides, with a few forward passes also creeping into the game at certain times.
Jai Field extended Wigan’s lead, once again against the run of play as he swept round the outside of a young backline, before being replaced in a triple interchange, Keighran landed the conversion for a ten point lead.
A fortuitous set-restart gave Hull another look at Wigan’s try line and Lewis Martin grabbed another try from a delicious cut-out pass from Callum Kemp.
The teams continued to trade tries as Wigan scored next when Jack Farrimond dummied his way over in broken play, before adding the conversion to his own try.
Even despite the pre-season friendly element there were several bone crunching tackles being thrown in by both sides, providing some appreciated entertainment for the crowd.
Lewis Martin completed another hat-trick at Wigan from another wide pass, mirroring his achievement at the same ground in the Challenge Cup last season.
An excellent break by Elliot Middlemass set up a position for Hull and some fast hands allowed Davy Litten to dive in at the corner to make it four tries each.