Hull 9 Giants 9

Jun 4 2007 By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A FIRST Super League point at the KC Stadium should have been a cause for some celebration.

But for the frustrated Giants - no chance!

Rather than savouring what was a hard-earned point against a Hull side who had beaten Leeds Rhinos at the same venue 14 days before, Huddersfield were cursing their luck as several crucial refereeing calls cost them both points.

Midway through the second half, Jamahl Lolesi crossed for a try, which the match officials ruled had been a knock-on.

The man himself, however, was far from impressed.

Then in the 65th minute, referee Ian Smith ruled Graeme Horne had the ball ripped from him in a two-man tackle, despite prop John Skandalis swearing blind the Hull man was attempting an offload.

From the resulting penalty, Danny Tickle converted and Hull were 8-6 ahead.

Yet the most controversial call of them all came with the last play of the game.

As the final hooter sounded, Martin Aspinwall collected the ball inside his own half and then elected to kick ahead.

Hull winger Motu Tony attempted to gather, but knocked the ball into the path of teammate Sid Domic, who was standing in an offside position and immediately hoofed the ball into touch.

But despite the entire Giants squad bringing the offside to the referee's attention, Mr Smith was having none of it.

It had finished 9-9, and Chris Thorman's attempt to win the game with a 40m penalty from in front of the posts had been denied.

And how fitting it would have been had Thorman grabbed the winning score.

The Huddersfield captain had produced an outstanding game, running the ball away from his own line with great skill and assurance, as well as defending strongly when called upon.

On top of that, he also proved a potent weapon when the Giants were on attack, scoring his side's only try of the contest.

That came after 16 minutes following a period of sustained pressure on the visitors' line.

But it was the excellent Steve Snitch who made it possible.

Collecting the ball on halfway, he showed great footwork to break free and feed the supporting Ryan Hudson.

The Huddersfield hooker then drew full-back Shaun Briscoe and slipped the ball to Thorman to finish off under the posts.

That made the conversion of his own score a formality, and the Giants were savouring having struck the first blow.

However, that proved to be a rare piece of attacking action for the visitors, who through their own fault spent most of the opening period camped in their own half.

Time and again, the Giants squandered possession inside their own territory, giving the distinct impression they were determined to put their rock-solid defence to the test.

Fortunately, it was a policy that paid off!

Hull raid after Hull raid came to nothing as Huddersfield once again demonstrated why they have the best defence in Super League.

By half-time, their tryline had remained intact, thanks to some incredible last-ditch tackling.

But seven minutes after the restart, the pressure eventually took its toll as Danny Washbrook burst through and fed Tickle to score under the posts and then add the conversion.

Tickle followed up with his controversial penalty after 65 minutes, and it looked as if this might not be the Giants' day.

But with eight minutes to go, Thorman coolly levelled the scores with a penalty from 10m from touch to the right of the posts to set up a grandstand finish.

Three minutes later Thorman slotted over a drop goal before Richard Horne did likewise 90 seconds later.

Drop goal attempts from Thorman, Tickle and Richard Swain failed to hit the target in a thrilling finale, before the most controversial incident of them all took place.