Davy Litten of Hull FC celebrates with team-mates after scoring a try.

Hull FC moved into second place in the Betfred Super League table as they survived a second-half fightback from Warrington to claim a 28-16 victory at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

The Black and Whites moved to within a point of leaders and local rivals Hull KR with the chance to go top of the table at Easter with the two meeting in the Humberside derby on Good Friday, live on Sky Sports.

Hull set the foundations for their win with a brilliant opening 40 minutes which saw them score five tries and build a 26-4 half-time advantage.

Davy Litten and Tom Briscoe both claimed two tries, with Herman Ese’ese also touching down and Will Pryce kicking three goals in a dominant opening 40 minutes.

Warrington rallied in the second half with Matty Ashton scoring two tries and Josh Thewlis also touched down to add to a George Williams effort in the first half although Marc Sneyd was off target with all four conversion attempts.

Hull up to second in Super League

The visitors made an impressive start and hit the home side with three tries in 10 minutes to open up a 14-0 advantage midway through the first half.

Ashton failed to take an Aidan Sezer bomb 10 metres from his own line and then straight from the resulting scrum the ball was moved to the right and Briscoe went over in the corner for his first try of the game.

Five minutes later Cust’s cross-field kick caused panic in the Wolves defence and Litten was on hand to touch down the loose ball and Cust was involved again soon after as his long pass allowed Briscoe the space to score his second of the game.

And it got even better for the visitors when Ese’ese could not be stopped on a 10-metre charge to the line and, with Pryce kicking two conversions, Hull led 20-0.

George Williams of Warrington celebrates after scoring a try.

Warrington finally got on the scoresheet five minutes before half-time with a solo effort from Williams, but in the dying seconds of the half Litten kicked ahead and regained to touch down and Pryce goaled to give Hull a commanding 26-4 half-time lead.

Hull were reduced to 12 men for 10 minutes six minutes after the restart when Jack Ashworth was sent to the sin bin for a late hit on Jordy Crowther and the Wolves immediately made their extra man tell as Williams sent Thewlis over in the corner.

The possibility of a comeback was still on the cards when Ashton crossed for Warrington’s third try midway through the second half and he repeated the dose seven minutes later as the Wolves cut the deficit to 10 points at 26-16 to set up a thrilling finale.

But the Hull defence stood firm under some severe pressure and rounded off the win with a last-minute penalty from Pryce.

‘Hull better in all areas’

Warrington head coach Sam Burgess: “We missed the jump at the start and gave ourselves way too much to do.

“They tried hard in the second half but they were against a quality side with some old heads in there who know how to win and grind a game out.

“Hull took their moments well in the first half and were better in all areas today.

“It didn’t look like us and the players know that and we have a week to fix it up.

“But the bottom line was we got beat by the better team and it wasn’t our day today.”

Hull FC head coach John Cartwright: “The opening 40 was probably as good a period we have put together and I’m really happy with.

“But it was a game of two halves and the second 40 was a different story and I thought we let them back into it to a degree after we went away from what was working for us in the first half.

“Obviously they don’t mean to make errors but we need to get them out of our game.

“The travelling supporters certainly helped us and made it feel like home and it’s a great place to play with a good atmosphere and a good surface, it’s something to look forward to.”

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