Huddersfield Giants were forced to dig deeper than at any stage of this glorious Super League XVIII campaign to grind out a 22-16 triumph at Hull that was packed full of character, grit and determination.

Their defensive effort was of the highest order against fired-up hosts who were determined to try and win at all costs.

Coach Paul Anderson’s men also made the most of the limited chances that came their way, with the contest only sealed with a 75th-minute Danny Brough try and conversion.

And at that stage they were without Brough's fellow play-maker, Luke Robinson , who had been forced to leave the field after a controversial challenge in the lead-up to Hull’s try that had levelled the scores at 16-16 after 60 minutes.

Huddersfield couldn’t have made a worst start to the contest as they conceded the opening try on Hull’s first attack.

Having thrown possession away running the ball out of their own half, the hosts took full advantage.

They crossed on the second play from the subsequent scrum when Chris Green charged through the middle of the Giants’ defence and scored under the posts for Joe Westerman to land an easy goal.

Fortunately, that acted as a wake-up call for the visitors.

For the next 25 minutes, the Giants were the dominant force, scoring twice to open up a 12-6 lead midway through the half.

Great work from Leroy Cudjoe and Luke Robinson put the Giants on the front foot for the first time after eight minutes and, moments later, Hull had spilled possession inside their own territory and the ball was worked to the left for Joe Wardle to finish bravely in the corner.

Danny Brough converted magnificently from the touchline and it was all square.

And it got even better 10 minutes later. After Hull had been forced to drop-out from under their own posts, Eorl Crabtree took play to the home side’s line and Shaun Lunt fed Ukuma Ta’ai to touch down and celebrate his first Giants try in front of the away following with relish.

Brough again converted and the Giants were ahead for the first time.

But for the rest of the half the Black and Whites had the upper hand and forced Huddersfield into some desperate and remarkable rearguard action, with Ta’ai’s effort to hold Joe Arundel up over the line the highlight.

The Giants also had to defend their line for three successive sets at one stage.

Unfortunately, however, that pressure eventually took its toll on the last play of the half when the visitors were stretched on the right and the ball was worked out to Kirk Yeaman to finish in the corner, although Danny Tickle was unable to land the conversion.

Hull continued in the second half from where they left off in the first by dominating the exchanges.

But again the Giants defence was up to the task, having to survive two

drop-outs in the space of two minutes to remain ahead.

And they finally gained their reward in the 54th minute when they extended their lead with their first attack of the half.

After taking play to the Hull line, Brough collected on the sixth tackle and his high kick to the corner was collected by Jermaine McGillvary ahead of Tom Briscoe to finish superbly in the corner.

Brough failed convert, but the six-point lead was restored – although that was to be lost in controversial circumstances on the hour.

As Luke Robinson looked to find a colleague on halfway, he lost the ball under what looked like an outlawed shoulder charge.

However, play was allowed to continue, Hull took the ball upfield and Mark O’Meley crashed over from close range and Tickle converted to make it 16-16.

Hull thought they had scored with eight minutes remaining when Jacob Miller’s drop goal hit a post and an attacker looked to have got a touch in the in-goal area under a melee, but the effort was chalked out for offside.

But moments later, Scott Grix saw his drop-goal effort charged down, the ball fell loose for Aaron Murphy to collect and find Brough to stretch out to score and add the conversion.

Brough came close to extending the lead with 10 seconds remaining, but his attempt drifted wide.

In the end, it didn’t matter.