Whitehead rounds off remarkable fightback

Nov 13 2007 by Chris Roberts, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

HUDDERSFIELD RU kept up the pressure on North I leaders Kendal with a remarkable 25-22 win at Hull.

With six minutes remaining, Mark Sowerby’s men looked dead and buried as they trailed 22-6.

A second league defeat of the campaign seemed a foregone conclusion.

But in one of their most incredible comebacks in memory, the visitors pounced with three tries and two conversions.

That clinched a victory which left the hosts shell-shocked.

The turning point came with two minutes of normal time remaining when Hull prop Matt Webber was sin-binned for obstruction.

Within a minute, Tom Haynes grabbed Huddersfield’s first try, converted by Chris Johnson.

It appeared to be a consolation effort.

But in stoppage time, Ben Harris charged over for an unconverted score, then with the last move of the match, Mark Whitehead broke through to cross under the posts.

Unbelievably, Huddersfield were a point ahead, and Johnson added gloss to the final score with the goal.

The men from Lockwood Park were left celebrating their eighth win in nine league games, and one which must rank as one of the most memorable in their history.

Such a triumphant finish was in total contrast to the bulk of the match, when Hull were by far the dominant force.

The home side started well and, after Carl Paterson and Johnson missed long-range penalty attempts, they took the lead in the 14th minute when a kick from Guy Martinson was collected by John Wilson.

The ball was then recycled for Martinson to be involved a second time, this time to plunge over the tryline.

It got even better for Hull two minutes later as a Paterson kick was collected by the inevitable Martinson to score his second, which Paterson converted to make it 12-0.

Two Johnson penalties either side of half-time gave Huddersfield hope.

But when Paterson added a penalty and then charged down Johnson’s kick to score and add the extras to make it 22-6 with four minutes remaining, it looked as if Huddersfield were doomed.

Club president Alan Ibberson said: “It was an amazing end to the game.

“We had been hugely under-par, and really, it looked like we were trying to salvage some pride when we started to throw the ball about late on.

“We got the first try, and most of us thought it was simply a consolation, but Hull seemed to go to pieces and we started to play with momentum.

“It certainly proved that the game isn’t over until the final whistle, and full marks to our lads for keeping going and carving out a win which seemed impossible.

“We’ve got tremendous spirit both on and off the pitch at the moment, and this result can only add to it.”