SIMON SMITH: Second half was hampered by the ref

The players managed to perform superbly in what were very difficult conditions.

We had to front up and win our battles and the right to play from that platform, and we managed to do just that.

We spoke to the players at half-time about maintaining our performance into the second half and carrying on our good work and dominance of the game.

But as the second half dragged on, we weren’t allowed to play and that was due to some very inconsistent and often one-sided refereeing decisions.

I spoke to the referee after the game and even then I couldn’t make sense of how he managed the game in the second half.

We couldn’t string any real possession together and get our game going as we’d get punished by the referee within minutes of getting on the ball.

What made it all the more frustrating was that the Hullensians players and supporters were really vocal in their criticism of him in the first half and you’d think that would hamper them rather than help them going into the second half.

That aside, we managed to pick up what was a crucial win regardless and that keeps us in the mix.

We have another rest weekend this week, with our Yorkshire Shield game against Beverley re-arranged due to them having a rescheduled league game.

I really hope we can get that semi-final played. It would be great for a team from Yorkshire One, having won the Shield to then try and get through to play at Twickenham the following year.

Scarborough came close a couple of years back and there’s some unfinished business there for us, we’d love another crack at it.

I have to say thank you to the players for their kind gesture of wearing black armbands on Saturday after my mum passed away last week.

They did it off their own back and it really did mean a lot to me.

They’re a great bunch of lads to work with.