By IAN JUDSON
HULL FC took their first step on the road to Wembley with a regulation victory at the CorpAcq Stadium against the new Salford club.
A hat-trick from Davy Litten, playing at fullback earned him the Man of the Match award, along with some enterprising attacking and excellent positioning and timing.
Much of the scoring came in the second half for the Black & Whites as they scored almost at a rate of a point a minute as the difference in fitness inevitably came to the fore.
Team News:
John Cartwright brought skipper Aidan Sezer into the starting line-up for the first time in 2026 after the Australian sat out the pre-season games.
Tom Briscoe was named on the wing, marking his 450th career appearance as Lewis Martin sat the cup-tie out.
There were six competitive debuts for the Airlie Birds with Arthur Romano, Jake Arthur, Harvie Hill, Joe Batchelor all starting and Connor Bailey and Sam Lisone on the bench.
The Match:
The first tackle resulted in a player from both sides requiring treatment and Connor Bailey had to enter the action as Jed Cartwright went off for a head injury assessment.
It took just over a minute for the Black & Whites to hit the front as Yusuf Aydin charged down a kick and followed up to touch down, Zak Hardaker added the extras.
A dropped ball from the home side handed Hull possession, but a forward pass saw them brought back for a scrum.
Straight from the scrum the ball was spread wide and a Harvey Barron break set up the position for Davy Litten to add Hull’s second try to open up a 10-point lead.
Salford showed some spirit off the back of a penalty and Tom Briscoe had to clear up a dangerous looking kick just in front of the Hull line.
There was an element of Hull trying to throw the ball around, before earning the right to be too fancy in the steady downpour of rain and giving away too many penalties as they got frustrated.
Hull were frustrated by rigorous defending from the home side, losing the tackle count twice when within striking distance.
Eventually it was a smart pick-up and dive over the line by Amir Bourouh that extended the lead, Hardaker adding his second conversion.
Salford were certainly being very physical and uncompromising in their defensive efforts, which served them well in getting their home support involved in the proceedings.
Hull’s next attack was marked by a huge pass wide and Harvey Barron added his name to the ever growing list of try-scorers, Hardaker added the goal again.
Hull set about putting the hosts on the back foot after the restart with some particularly aggressive defending.
Salford coughed up possession in their first set of the half and from that position Arthur Romano grabbed the first score of the second half, Hardaker’s boot was accurate again with the conversion.
Salford failed to deal with another kick from Jake Arthur and subsequently Litten scored his second try, goaled again by Hardaker.
Hull extended their lead to 40 points as Cade Cust took a short pass in and crossed for a try goaled again by Hardaker.
Joe Batchelor got himself a debut try after some slick handling from left to right opened up a gap for him as the game reached its final quarter, Hardaker added the extras again.
The half century duly arrived as Davy Litten completed his hat-trick from close range in the corner.
Hull were given a defensive workout as Salford reclaimed the ball from the kick-off and forced two set-restarts, but were more than up to the job.
Hull then went straight to the other end and another slick passing move involving Brad Fash and Litten ended with Cust scoring his second try, goaled by Hardaker.
A penalty in enemy territory put Hull within striking distance again and Jake Arthur forced his way over for a debut try.
Salford kept giving as good as they got and never gave up trying, but were just unable to take advantage of a few opportunities to grab a fairytale try.
Squads:
SALFORD: Matty Ross, Rafael Van Osselaer, Deacon Connolly, Josh Cartwright, Joe Hartley, Toby Hughes, Jack Gatcliffe, Sam Bowring, Brad Dwyer, Owen Haldenby, Reece Stanton, Ollie Garmston, Fin Yates. Interchange: Ethan Newboult, Lebunbou Bardyel-Wells, Will Tilleke, Leo Wadsworth. 18th Man: Cole Appleby.
HULL FC: Davy Litten, Harvey Barron, Zak Hardaker, Arthur Romano, Tom Briscoe, Jake Arthur, Aidan Sezer, Ligi Sao, Amir Bourouh, Harvie Hill, Joe Batchelor, Jed Cartwright, Yusuf Aydin. Interchange: Connor Bailey, Cade Cust, Brad Fash, Sam Lisone. 18th Man: Lloyd Kemp.
Scorers:
Tries: Yusuf Aydin (2) Davy Litten (6, 47, 64) Amir Bourouh (26) Harvey Barron (32) Arthur Romano (44) Cade Cust (54, 69) Joe Batchelor (60) Jake Arthur (74) Goals: Zak Hardaker 8/10 Harvey Barron 0/1
Man of the Match: Davy Litten