Hull come from behind to beat Stockport

For the second week in a row Stockport let second-half lead slip as Hull were victorious 33-30 at Headlands Road after a remarkable National League 2 North turnaround.

Tries from Ashley Platt-Hughes, Paul Millea and Callum Baldwin as well as seven points from the boot of Mark Edwards had given Matthew Bebbington’s men a 15 point lead at half-time.

But a mixture of errors and not taking chances saw Hull comeback from 30-14 down in the last 20 minutes to claim their seventh straight victory over Stockport.

Tries from Aidan Holland, Ben Sullivan, Alexander Heard and Oliver Hardisty meant they ended the match in complete control.

This is the second time in seven days that Stockport have let a lead slip as it happened last week against Caldy, but this will have deflated Port more due the margin which they were ahead.

Stockport coach Matthew Bebbington said after the game: “In the past three games, even though we held on against Huddersfield, there has been a massive drop off in our performance in the second half when we have been up with a comfortable lead.

"What’s responsible for that I’m not sure. Whether it’s the mind-set when it comes to holding onto a lead, whether its fitness or not training in the right way, we will have to have a look at. Its similar mistakes being repeated."

He added: “In the first 40 minutes in the last three games we have blown away teams like Caldy who are 5th, Huddersfield who are mid-table and Hull who are slightly below them and they all haven’t been able to handle us.

“We scored four tries today which is great and we probably left another five or six out there after some clean line breaks and not sticking to our principles after that. The players will look at the match to see those tiny errors and see whether they are having an effect.”

Stockport had started well as they won a string of early penalties in the first six minutes with Edwards converting the sole kickable one as Hull were getting pushed further back. Hull’s Jamie Clark suffered a serious face injury just before Port took the lead and I’m sure everyone at Stockport Rugby Club wishes him well.

The hosts looked in the mood and on ten minutes they took advantage of Hull’s lethargic start to score the first try of the afternoon.

Jamie Anthony broke from the line to find Elliot Fletcher who produced an audacious ‘Sonny Bill Williams’ style pass to Joe Cantwell who darted for the corner before flicking inside to Platt-Hughes to score. Edwards slotted over the conversion.

Port nearly scored again straight from the re-start as Fletcher once more showed some outrageous skill to find Ben Marsland, but he was stopped in his tracks by Oliver Cook.

The Red, Green and Whites were then left furious at referee Michael Harris as it seemed as if Hull’s prop had deliberately blocked the ball in an offside position as Stockport looked to score, but no card was shown.

But it wasn’t long before the Hull defence started to creak again and after relentless pressure from Stockport they got their second try of the afternoon.

After a series of penalties, Chris Roddy caught and drove from a line out before flipping a pass to fellow forward Millea who smashed his way over to score by the posts. Edwards again added the extras for 17-0.

Stockport were in complete control, but did see Hull respond with their only real attack of the first half as prop Adam Tamanis touched down.

But once again, Stockport hit back impressively and scored on the stroke of half-time as Simon Green took the Port line-out well and passed the ball outside to Baldwin who dived across the line to give the home side a 22-7 lead at the break.

This was far from a tight game as Stockport had ran proceedings, but they were about to be stunned by a remarkable turnaround by Hull.

It began just 60 seconds into the second period as great pace by Heard and winger Jamie Broadley ended with Holland darting to the line unchallenged.

Five minutes later Stockport did get try number four for the day. After a number of phases and patient build up play, it ended with Fletcher showing his agility and speed as he cut back inside to score in the right corner for 27-14.

Mark Edwards knocked over a penalty three minutes later and with half an hour to go Port lead 30-14.
Little did the home side know that, that was their last score of the match as Hull capitalised on Stockport’s missed opportunities and marginal errors.

The comeback really sprung to life as Hull won a flurry of penalties which end with Sullivan creeping in by the posts after the best passage of play by the Humberside outfit of the afternoon.

Stockport weren’t executing everything which had worked so well for then in the first half and Hull were clinical.

Their fourth try was something Stockport won’t want to look back on too often. Replacement full-back Tomasi Tanumi broke from just inside his own half and like a hot knife through butter, went straight past four or five Port tackles.

He fed Heard who crossed over with ease on the left hand side to reduce Stockport’s lead to just two points as the score was 30-28 with 18 minutes to go,

It was frantic and tense stuff in the final quarter of the match with both sides giving it everything to secure the win, but Hull then completed the comeback when Hardisty escaped down the right to cross over and snatch the victory from Stockport.

Stockport’s next match is away at Otley next Saturday. Kick-Off 2pm.

Stockport: Fletcher; Cantwell, Platt-Hughes, J Anthony, Gaskell;  J Edwards, M Edwards;  S Green, Baldwin, Marsland;  C Hibbs, Roddy ; C Anthony, Millea, Fuller (capt).

Replacements: Mitchell, Graham,  Hopkins, K Hibbs,  Wilson.

Tries: Platt-Hughes, Millea, Baldwin, Fletcher
Cons: M Edwards (2)
Pens: M Edwards (2)

Hull: Clark; Broadley, Heard, Holland, Kirk; Cameron, Hardisty; Cook, Sullivan, Stafford; Devonshire, Alderson; Tamanis, Jobling, Price.

Replacements: Brown, Trail, Gray, Haddow, Tanumi

Tries: Tamanis, Holland, Sullivan, Heard, Hardisty
Cons: Cameron (4)