Larne Patrick came off the bench to score two vital second-half tries as the Huddersfield Giants were forced to dig deep to beat Hull KR and secure a ninth win in their last 10 Super League games.
The sides were locked at 16-16 at the break before Patrick took matters into his own hands to be in the right place at the right time to capitalise on Danny Brough’s invention.
It may not have been Huddersfield’s greatest performance of the season, but it was noteworthy for the character they needed to show to make sure a move up to fourth in the top-flight table was earned.
It couldn’t have started much worse for the visitors as they conceded the opening try within two minutes.
What appeared a clear ball strip on Brett Ferres was ruled a knock-on and from the subsequent scrum, former Giants winger David Hodgson crossed in the corner and Travis Burns landed the touchline conversion.
But with the first half then become a ‘you score, we score’ affair, the sides were locked at 16-16 at the interval.
Within five minutes of Hodgson’s opener, Huddersfield drew level when a sublime piece of Danny Brough skill involving two perfectly-executed kicks provided Jermaine McGillvary with the space to feed Leroy Cudjoe to touch down.
Brough converted and was ready to line up a second seven minutes later before video referee Richard Silverwood ruled a knock-on in the build-up to a McGillvary ‘score’ in the corner.
Silverwood ruled there was nothing wrong with Hull KR’s second try in the 17th minute, however, when Kris Welham got the nod after no obstruction was spotted.
But the Giants reinserted as almost immediate as Kyle Wood’s short pass sent the dangerous Ukuma Ta’ai charging over to level matters for a second time.
The Robins again got lucky with a video shout when Ade Gardner was given the benefit of the doubt with a potential Hull KR knock-on in the 27th minute.
Burns again failed to convert and eight minutes before the break the Giants hit the front for the first time when Brough made no mistake with his second conversion after Eorl Crabtree showed all his strength and a best step to barge over under the posts.
But on the stroke of half-time Burns landed a penalty, and the game was perfectly poised.
Hodgson was denied a second and the chance for Rovers to regain the lead when the busy Silverwood ruled an obstruction in the lead-up.
And that looked to be a wake-up call for the visitors who immediately went down the other end of the field for a Brough kick to bounce over the unfortunate Gardner and straight to Larne Patrick to accept the gift. Brough failed to convert and the lead was four.
The Giants captain followed up with a 40-20 and then a neat grubber to force a Robins drop-out midway through the half as the visitors attempted to turn the screw.
But it wasn’t until the 67th minute when they extended their lead to 10 points when Patrick stormed onto a short Brough ball to crash through for a crucial converted score.
The unlucky Hodgson was denied a second time for failing to ground the ball in the corner with nine minutes remaining.
Hodgson did finally grab his second in the last minute and Burns added the touchline conversion, but it proved a consolation effort.
The Giants again went marching on.
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