Painful opener ends dreams of a victory

May 12 2003 By Chris Roberts, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Hull 34 - 6 Giants. Giants faily to make tackles count.

That had followed on from the first-half departures of Jim Gannon and Hull hooker Dean Treister for similar misdemeanours.

It was hardly surprising, therefore, that tempers frayed in the final 10 minutes as both sets of players became embroiled in two major flare-ups as frustration at the way the game had been handled got the better of the teams.

For Huddersfield, however, their frustration had started much, much earlier - immediately from kick-off, in fact.

On the first play, Richard Horne had run effortlessly through numerous half-hearted challenges to put his team straight onto the attack.

And by the 52nd second Toa Kohe Love had been invited through the Giants defence to score in the corner.

Seldom has a side made a worst start.

But to add to their woes, they quickly found Laughton unsympathetic to their plight and by the time he had awarded Hull the first five penalties by the 17th minute, the visitors were 18-0 down.

In the seventh minute, Huddersfield were punished for holding down and from Hull's next set, Adam Maher sent Treister charging over for Steve Prescott to add the first of his five goals.

Six minutes later, the Giants were penalised for offside and the position had been created for Richie Barnett to feed Tony Smith to add a six-pointer.

Before Huddersfield had chance to regain their composure, two more penalties were awarded for holding down and Prescott banged over another two points.