Injuries to Gareth Ellis and Leon Pryce mar Hull FC derby win
Last Updated: 17/07/15 11:51pm
Hull FC coach Lee Radford praised his side's unity after they overcame the loss of Gareth Ellis and Leon Pryce to secure their place in the Super 8s with a 22-12 win over Hull KR.
Skipper Ellis was taken to hospital with a snapped Achilles which will rule him out for the rest of the season while Pryce went off just 10 minutes into the 500th career appearance with a shoulder injury.
"I'm going to see Gaz in hospital now, it doesn't look great," said Radford.
"He's huge for us, people walk on the field next to him and grow six inches so for him not to be there would be a big blow for us.
"Leon came down awkwardly on his shoulder and so we'll have to assess that."
Hull FC trailed 12-4 after their hosts ran in early tries through Shaun Lunt and Josh Mantellato but regrouped after losing their influential players to injury.
Tom Lineham scored two tries in the last 10 minutes of the first half to take his tally for the season to 19 and fellow winger Steve Michaels also touched down twice as the visitors seized control, with youngster Jordan Abdull stepping impressively into Pryce's stand-off role.
Losing Leon and Gareth were huge blows for us but Jordan Abdull showed he's going to wear the black and white for years to come.
Lee Radford
"Losing Leon and Gareth were huge blows for us but Jordan Abdull showed he's going to wear the black and white for years to come," said Radford.
"It was always going to be difficult and to do it in the manner we did was a real credit to the group.
"Our goal at the start of the season was to make the eight and we've done that with a week to go and we're two points off the four.
“I'm really pleased for the group. I thought their togetherness showed tonight."
Miracle
While the Black and Whites can now look forward to continuing their Super League campaign in the Super 8s, the Robins will, barring a miracle, have to battle it out with Widnes, Salford and Wakefield to retain their top-flight status via the Middle 8s.
Rovers coach Chris Chester blamed his side's failure to compete in the second half for their third successive defeat.
"That's two weeks on the bounce we've failed to score in the second half," he said.
"I'm very disappointed with the contact and with the way we played in that second half.
"We didn't get any field position, we weren't smart with the ball and we kept coming up with silly individual errors.
"We put ourselves in a decent position to win the game. I thought it was more than a four-point wind but we couldn't get out of our half.
"They kicked us to death. They beat us in the ruck and kicked the ball better than us."
Hull KR still have a Challenge Cup semi-final against Warrington to look forward to in a fortnight's time but their fate in Super League will be confirmed if Catalans Dragons beat Huddersfield on Saturday.
Rovers go to St Helens in their last match of the regular season needing to overturn a points difference of 75 on the Dragons but Chester insisted: "Mathematically we can still do it."
