By IAN JUDSON
HULL FC tumbled off the road to Wembley in a bad-tempered Challenge Cup fourth round tie at the Leigh Sports Village.
Leigh were handed territory and possession at an alarming rate and Hull’s defensive resolve was just not enough to counteract that.
The Airlie Birds showed plenty of effort and commitment, but again their lack of a serious cutting edge hampered them.
Team News:
John Cartwright swapped Zak Hardaker back to fullback and moved Davy Litten back to his preferred centre position for the Challenge Cup tie at Leigh.
James Bell started in the back row after making his debut for the Black and Whites from the bench at Wakefield the previous week.
Brad Fash dropped to the bench to accommodate the start for Bell and young prop Matty Laidlaw was recalled from his loan at Hunslet to be 18th man for the Airlie Birds.
The Match:
There was an early injury stoppage as Keanan Brand had to be helped off for the home side in their first set of the game.
The Leopards’ early kicking game was putting Hull under intense pressure as the Black & Whites had to keep bringing the ball back from their own line.
A kick out on the full put Leigh in the Hull half, but they blew the opportunity with a pass evading Josh Charnley and flying into touch.
Hull established a foothold with back-to-back set-restarts, but a lost ball put paid to the opportunity.
Leigh hit the front as another set-restart allowed them to build pressure and Innes Senior scooted in at the corner.
John Cartwright’s side were put under more pressure as Davy Litten was forced back behind his own line, forcing a goal line drop out.
However, on this occasion the home side failed to capitalise because of a knock-on at the play the ball in Hull’s danger zone.
Leigh were handed another attacking opportunity with a set-restart and Lachlan Lam was adjudged to have forced his way over, this time Adam Cook was on target with the boot.
A penalty put Hull into rare field position, aided by a set-restart in the hosts’ danger zone and Cade Cust scampered over to score under the posts as a result, Zak Hardaker added the goal.
Hull then started to take more control as Lewis Martin chased a kick from Aidan Sezer and caught Josh Charnley behind his own line to force a drop out.
Unfortunately Sam Lisone was just unable to take a pass in close to the Leopards’ line and the chance was gone.
A penalty on the stroke of half time was added by Cook to give the hosts a six point advantage at the break.
Hull started the second half in aggressive fashion with one incident seeing Badrock being helped off for the hosts trying to stop a Hardaker grubber kick close to their line.
Leigh were handed another questionable penalty for a high tackle and the boot of Cook gave them a two score lead again.
Hull were continuing to go through their processes, but finding no attacking rhythm and were unable to breakdown a stubborn Leigh defence.
Hull were forced to drop out from under their own posts again after Hardaker was caught clearing up a grubber kick.
Another unexplained penalty gave Cook another chance with the boot and he made it a ten point lead for the home side.
After a brawl on the pitch Hull had Cade Cust sent to the sin-bin and he was joined on the sideline by Lachlan Lam for his part in it.
The match was then left to come to its conclusion in a very hostile atmosphere, with frayed tempers threatening to boil over.
LEIGH 16 (Senior Lam tries Cook 4 goals) beat HULL FC 6 (Cust try Hardaker goal) at Leigh Sports Village.