Sezer stars as Hull FC stun Leigh with early blitz

Betfred Super League

Leigh (0) 12

Ipape, Trout Goals: McNamara 2

Hull FC (26) 26

By leading Hull FC to victory at Leigh, which ended their four-game losing streak in the Super League, Scrum-half Aidan Sezer made his 250th career start.

The Black &amp, Whites blitzed their hosts in the first half to give them a 26-point lead, Sezer’s kicking was almost flawless, with three conversions and two penalties.

Before the break, cadets Cust, Herman Ese’ese, Lewis Martin, and Sam Eseh all made a defensive breakthrough to give Hull FC a chance to rise to fifth place.

In the final 20 minutes, third-placed Leigh rallied, but tries from Edwin Pape and Owen Trout did little to maintain the scoreline.

It was hardly surprising that the two teams looked evenly matched again in their end-to-end opening ten minutes despite drawing a thrilling 22-22 tie before half-time.

Sezer’s coolly-taken 35-yard penalty extended Hull’s lead even further and made it possible for the Black &amp, Whites to retake it despite a brief period of Leigh pressure.

Martin was given a more routine kick by Sezer after Trout was harshly punished for a high tackle on the scrum-half, and after another weaving run from Pryce, the home side appeared ragged.

As Sezer burst through once more to set up Eseh under the posts for Hull’s fourth try to make it 26-0 at half-time, Leigh’s hopes of reaching half-time were completely dashed.

Ipape and Alec Tuitavake were both held up close to their target, but Adrian Lam’s men repeatedly gained territory without producing anything.

On the hour mark, Ipape broke through, diving over between the posts, and it needed smart defending from Zak Hardaker to stop Trout from getting the ball down once more. There was a glimmer of hope for the Leopards.

After Lachlan Lam’s crossfield 40-20 kick had kept Leigh in the ascendancy, Trout was not denied, however, collecting Ben McNamara’s pass to add his name to the scoresheet.

Hughes, Tuitavake, Davis, and Charnley swapped out.

Pryce, Martin, Litten, Briscoe, Barron, Cust, Sezer, Ese’ese, Bourouh, Knight, Hardaker, Chamberlain, Asiata, all play for Hull FC.

Ashworth, Balmforth, Eseh, and Laidlaw are the exchanges.