Sharp praises Thackeray's novel talent as Hull go fifth

Wakefield 18

Hull 20

Half-time: 10-14

Att: 7,142

Anthony Thackeray helped to cushion the blow of losing Paul Cooke as Hull went fifth in the Super League table.

At the end of a dramatic week Thackeray, a young half-back recalled from loan at York, produced a mature and confident contribution, although two tries in the second half from Ryan Atkins came close to snatching at least a draw for Wakefield. "He was really good," said the Hull coach, Peter Sharp, of his newcomer, who along with Danny Washbrook filled in for the departed Cooke and the injured Richard Horne. "He took his chances and possibly could have taken a few more." Thackeray showed up well in Hull's early attacks, but he was also involved in the try that put Wakefield ahead. The 21- year-old failed to take a pass from Gareth Raynor and at the end of the subsequent set of tackles Ben Jeffries put in a little kick that took a fortunate bounce back into his hands for a simple try.

The young newcomer did not take long to make up for that error. He was heavily involved in building the pressure that led to Shayne McMenemy running on to Richard Swain's pass for the equalising try, and then a delightful piece of skill produced a second, for Shaun Briscoe. Thackeray ran at the defence, sold a dummy and sent the fullback through a gap. He was congratulated by just about all his team-mates.

Wakefield came back with a try from Jason Golden, striding on to a pass from Jeffries. Jamie Rooney's missed conversion left them two points behind, though, and before half-time Danny Tickle put over a third goal after Mark Applegarth was penalised for holding down Graeme Horne.

A high shot by Applegarth gave Tickle another two points after the break, but Atkins brought Wakefield back within two after a powerful run by Ned Catic. Hull should have responded when Thackeray made a break through the middle, but he could not find support.

They did score, however, after 62 minutes, when Waine Pryce lost the ball in a tackle and Kirk Yeaman used his strength to go over from dummy-half. Thackeray came close to a debut try after that and Tickle missed a drop goal to leave the result in doubt. Atkins bounced out of three tackles to score with three minutes to play, but Rooney's off-day with his boot continued with a third miss in four attempts.

"He is beating himself up without anyone else jumping on the bandwagon," said his coach, John Kear, who earlier agreed a two- year contract extension. "I don't think the better side won. We had enough opportunities to win the game and scored four tries to three."

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