Sezer stars as Hull FC stun Leigh with early flurry

Betfred Super League

Leigh (0) 12

Ipape, Trout Goals: McNamara 2

Hull FC (26) 26

When Hull FC defeated Leigh to end their four-game losing streak in the Super League, Scrum-half Aidan Sezer led them on their 250th career game.

The Black &amp, Whites controlled their hosts in the first half to take a 26-point lead, with three conversions and two penalties coming from Sezer.

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.

After Bailey Hodgson and Josh Charnley stormed the home side, Hull and Hull had to fight it out to keep the home side out, but Leigh always had a chance to make up the top two.

The visitors only suffered injuries to ex-Leopards loose forward John Asiata, who was substituted at half-time due to a leg strain, and Cust, who went off after receiving a blow to the ribs.

John Cartwright, the head coach of Hull FC, told BBC Radio Humberside:

“We were kicking from deep in our half, but we didn’t panic; we stuck with it for the first 15 minutes because they probably had the better of us.”

We did a little bit of decent ball, and Aidan Sezer was performing at his best on his 250th. Will Pryce probably had one of his best games for the club. Cade [Cust] did a fantastic job of keeping things professional while we were out there.

“We iced up a lot of opportunities tonight,” he said. It was encouraging to be able to compete and attack the way they did; I know we could do it, and tonight was nice and tactful.

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.