HULL FC coach John Cartright said his team had achieved an ambition to be alive in the final round of the competition after they crushed Warrington.
The Airlie Birds’ 34-2 win over the dire Wire at MKM Stadium means they still have a slim hope of making the play-offs – if they beat Catalans on Friday and Salford causes a massive upset against Wakefield the following evening.
“It was a game I was worried about because the opposition had nothing to lose and we had everything to lose,” Cartwright told Sky Sports.
“All we can do is win the last two games. We got that one away.
“We spoke this week about being alive ’til the last week and were still alive.”
Hull FC led 22-2 at halftime, Wolves coach Sam Burgess saying the sin bin stint of Lachlan Fitzgibbon was costly.
“Tough to watch,” he said.
“We were obviously short on numbers. We didn’t handle the yellow card well. We conceded 18 points in 10 minutes. A tough night. We’re in a tough spot.”
But he moved to reassure fans ahead of the clash with Hull KR on Thursday, saying: “As painful as it might be for a lot of the the Warrington fans back home, good things will come from this period.
“A lot of young players are getting great experience. I really do believe that.
“We’ve got one more game together. We’ll give it our best shot. And then it’s all systems go for next year.”
HULL FC 34 (Hardaker Lane Baron Sezer Balmforth Martin tries Hardaker 5 goals) beat WARRINGTON 2 (Sneyd goal) at MKM Stadium.
Teams:
HULL: Logan Moy; Harvey Baron, Tom Briscoe, Davy Litten, Lewis Martin; Callum Kemp, Aiden Sezer; Will Gardiner, Denive Balmforth, Liam Watts, Zak Hardaker, Jordan Lane, Brad Fash. Res: Cade Kust, Matty Laidlaw, Hugo Salabio, Sam Eseh. 18th man: Lloyd Kemp.
WARRINGTON: Cai Taylor-Wray; Josh Thewlis, Toby King, James Duffy, Jake Thewlis; Stefan Ratchford, Marc Sneyd; Joe Philbin, Danny Walker, Luke Thomas, Sam Stone, Lachlan Fitzgibbon, Ryan Matterson. Res: Sam Powell, Adam Holroyd, Max Wood, Tom McKinney. 18th man: Matt Dufty.
Referee: Tom Grant.