Hull Sharks 6 Saints 20 Report by DENIS WHITTLE LINGERING doubts regarding Saints' top-five credentials must have been finally dispelled after this totally professional performance on Humberside on Sunday.

A visit to the daunting Boulevard, and with its rabid fans, is not the most welcoming prospect _ add monsoon conditions, a soap-like ball, plus a Sharks' squad with a fleeting chance of a play-off spot, and the ingredients were in place for a cliff-hanging confrontation.

Much of the pre-match hype hinted that a Saints side ever ready to run the ball and supremely confident after three successive wins could be in for a shock defeat. But the fact that did not materialise was due, in the final analysis, to yet another heartening chapter in the renaissance of teamwork in recent weeks.

In simple terms a Saints squad really 'up' for this one were in total command throughout, with their ability to complete sets of six tackles being in stark contrast to that of Hull, whose regular spilling of the ball consigned a Sharks' side whose teeth were well and truly drawn to spells of enormous pressure.

Something had to give, and give it did with Saints notching four tries and being denied two others at the last gasp, while another uplifting feature for their travelling army of fans being defensive commitment - so often an Achilles heel this season - restricting Hull to a single try, and that as late as the 78th minute. Following his recent points avalanche Sean Long had to be content with just two goals, but his incisive running frequently had Hull at panic stations and he was also to the fore with several line-saving tackles, and there was little room for doubt that he and Karle Hammond proved too good for Gary Lester and Craig Murdock.

Long took Saints' man-of-the-match award, but he was closely shaded by any number of Saints heroes, in particular two-try Paul Davidson, Keiron Cunningham, skipper Chris Joynt and Ian Pickavance, who had a hand in the build-up to a couple of tries.

Former Knowsley Road favourite Steve Prescott took the Shark's accolade and, as far as I was concerned, his face-to-face meeting with Paul Atcheson, the man who replaced him at Saints, ended with honours even because, like 'Preccy,' 'Patch' rarely put a foot wrong.

Saints set the scoreboard ticking within five minutes when Hammond spotted a gap to send Davidson over from 15 yards range and, although Long failed to convert, the signs were ominous for a Hull side facing the horrendous elements, to say nothing of a Saints' team prepared to spurn goal-kicks in favour of position, and making light of an adverse penalty count.

Long was also the architect of the visitors' second try, again scored by Davidson, and created when the ever-alert half-back took a quick tap penalty to send the big Cumbrian through a gap wide enough to accommodate a jumbo-jet - were Saints' fans to be treated to another scoring bonanza, we wondered?

The Sharks had other ideas, however, in stiffening their defensive resolve. Ball stealing found Davidson heading for the sin-bin on half-time and, although a lead of 10-0 was not exactly a comfortable cushion 12-man Saints had consolidation very much in mind on the restart and twice split the Humbersider's defence, only to see Joynt's pass gobbled up by Seru, with Hunte doing likewise from Long.

The returning Davidson, Pickavance and Joynt then engineered a try for the unstoppable Newlove to which Long tacked on the goal, and Saints then added their fourth try when Pickavance put Anthony Sullivan under way from 30 yards, and the one-time Hull flyer held off Prescott to round off his side's scoring with 65 minutes on the clock.

Conversely, it was at this point now that the Sharks really began to show their bite, with Atcheson (on Graeme Hallas, and Long on Prescott and Andy Ireland moving in with timely tackles, before Paul Sculthorpe raised the seige for Saints with a barnstorning 50-yard run following an interception beneath the visitors' posts.

Prescott then halted Chris Smith in full flight as Saints' Tony Stewart marked a rare first team outing by being sin-binned after only 10 minutes action, and Hull had the last say when Hallas carved out a touchdown for yet another ex-Saint in Simon Booth which Prescott converted.

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