Two tries each from Sika Manu and Bureta Faraimo helped Hull FC climb to fourth in Betfred Super League after beating Castleford Tigers 36-12 at the KCOM Stadium.
Manu, who had not crossed the whitewash this season, dotted down two of Hull's four first-half tries to put the hosts into a commanding 20-6 before running in two more to down the Tigers.
The black & white army bounce back in the best way#SLHulCas pic.twitter.com/A6YhPtUaik
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) May 5, 2018
The Tonga international opened the scoring before Paul McShane levelled to make it 6-6 before Jamie Shaul put Hull back in front. Manu grabbed his second before Faraimo grabbed his first to put Hull in control at the break.
The Black and Whites suffered a blow as Marc Sneyd, who kicked four points, was carried off the pitch with a leg injury, but Hull added to their lead with a Jake Connor penalty.
Callum Turner marked his Super League debut with a try for the visitors but Faraimo crossed for a second time to move 28-12 ahead before Connor kicked another penalty and Josh Griffin dotted down to retain their unbeaten home form.
Hull head coach Lee Radford hailed Connor for his performance after half-back after replacing Sneyd following the latter's injury: "Jake took over the authority on the field and kicking duties and did well on both.
"We are in a luxurious position to have a back up of that calibre and it’s now a real test for us moving forward.
"We’re not as fluent as we want to be. We want to have success in the cup and in terms of where we wanted to be at the start of the year, we’re probably there."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Loved putting the hull shirt on today!what a game to come back to!<br>Thanks for all the messages still a lot of work to do but looking forward to it <a href="https://twitter.com/laurenboyd1989?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@laurenboyd1989</a> <a href="https://t.co/AtVVTIMcm1">pic.twitter.com/AtVVTIMcm1</a></p>— Joe Westerman (@joewesty13787) <a href="https://twitter.com/joewesty13787/status/992847259695046656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 5, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Castleford boss Daryl Powell: "I said at half-time we needed to complete at 90 or 100 per cent and we’ll win the game.
"There was nothing in the game. I thought the final score was harsh on us.
"I’m happier after this game than I was after beating Huddersfield because that’s more of a Castleford performance.
"I’m so proud of what we did today and there’s a massive amount for us to build on."
