Hull Suffer At Hands Of Unholy Trinity By Gareth Marshall

At 9:45 on Friday night it was finally confirmed: romance is dead. A win over Wakefield Trinity would not only have allowed Hull to progress further in the end of season play-offs and set up a meeting with Wigan next week, it would also have prolonged the British career of coach Shaun McRae, the SuperLeague stalwart who is returning to his native Australia, for another 80 minutes at least.

The night was crying out for a script that served up an upbeat ending along the lines of A Midsummer Night's Dream. But unfortunately, something more akin to Hamlet materialised, as the visitors well and truly pissed on Hull's parade by running out 28-18 winners.

Despite beating Trinity in all three of their previous meetings this season, so extensive was Hull's injury list, and so alarming was their recent slump in form, that Wakefield started the match as favourites. From early on it looked as if the bookies had been spot on once again, as Peter Lupton continued FC's woeful recent kicking form by firing a simple penalty wide, before Trinity took first blood through star man David March, who bundled his way over the line before converting his own try. The lead didn't last too long though, as Hull's depleted side were stung into action.

With the pressure mounting on the visitors, Wakefield began to crack and soon found themselves 2 men short as both Ben Jeffries and captain Gareth Ellis were sin-binned. Hull couldn't fail to take advantage of their superior numbers, and hooker Richard Swain went over to score, before Lupton found his range, sending over the conversion to level matters at 6-6.

With the crowd - and in particular the man sat next to me who, if he isn't already, should really be the founder member of the FC Supporters Club Cockney branch - rallying behind Shaun McRae's patched up side, Hull bossed the next 20 minutes, scoring another try through Shayne McMenemy, with Lupton kicking the conversion and then a penalty. FC had their chances to extend the lead, and ultimately their failure to rack up more points during their period of dominance would come back to bite them, but nevertheless with the defence withholding some stern Trinity pressure late on in the half, a lead of 14-6 at the break was encouraging.

Those fond of clichés will be glad to know that the idea of a game of two halves applied just as easily to League as it does to football, for after the restart the home side's hopes of an appearance at next month's Grand Final were shattered. Shrugging off the loss of star centre Syd Domic, Wakefield went over 3 times in 13 minutes to leave the Black and Whites reeling. First, winger Colum Halpenny capitalised on Kirk Yeaman's failure to clear his lines; then prop Chris Feather steamrollered his way through four FC defenders, with Handforth adding the extra 2 points.

When Semi Tadulala profited from another high kick from the influential Jeffries, and Handforth stretched the lead further with a penalty, you sensed it was all over with more than 20 minutes left. And to all intents and purposes it was, even though Hull's young side admirably refused to let their heads drop, spurred on partly through the introduction of the livewire Richie Barnett Jnr, and undoubtedly by the desire to give McRae the send off that he deserved.

Prop Ewan Dowes forced his way over to lift the crowd and to give Hull hope at 18-22 with 10 minutes left, but Wakefield held firm against the tiring home side, and put the result beyond any doubt in the final minute, as Jason Demetriou raced clear for the final try of the night, causing the 2,000 travelling fans to raise the roof.

Handforth's conversion was seen by no more than about 4,000 people as the KC emptied, bringing a hugely disappointing end to McRae's time not only as Hull boss, but also his connection with British rugby league, which he has served so well. The big man deserved better, but sadly, for all their guts, Hull didn't.

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