ASSISTANT coach Steve Hazzelby says Sedgley Park played some of their best rugby of the season in Saturday’s 27-24 win at Hull despite again being left to sweat for their victory until the end.

The Tigers made it back-to-back National Two North wins in East Yorkshire thanks to tries from Leon Simpson, Oli Glasse and Tom Ailes, as well as a kicking masterclass from Steve Collins with three conversions, a penalty and a drop goal.

But despite leading 17-5 at half time, they had to battle to see the game out for the second week in succession.

And while he was full if praise for the first-half exploits, Hazzelby stressed again the need to see games out.

He told the club’s website: “Last Saturday we were on the road to play Hull a team we had not played for a number of seasons.

“They had gained promotion last season and recruited well in the pre-season and were always going to give problems for any opposition with their big, powerful pack of forwards.

“We had prepared and trained well in the week previous and started the game strongly with a penalty after four minutes from fly-half Steve Collins followed 12 minutes later with a great try for winger Leon Simpson, converted by Steve to put us in a commanding 10-point lead.

“We were now playing some of the best rugby we had played all season with a solid scrum and accurate line-out which provided us with a solid platform to launch our strike plays and control the areas of the pitch that we wanted to play in.

“Another good score for centre Oli Glasse, again converted by Steve, after 22 minutes further extended our lead to 17-5 going into the interval.

“Hull, to their credit, did score through a catch-and-drive through their big forwards after 31 minutes to put them on the scoreboard going into half time.

“The second half started well with some strong driving play through the forwards and wide open play from the backs.

“Despite this it was not until the 58th minute that we extended the lead with a great drop goal from Steve Collins to put us 20-5 up.

“Hull came back strongly with two scores of their own with another catch-and-drive from their forwards and a converted try after 66 minutes to put them right back in the game at 20-17 with 15 minutes to go.

“Hull continued to test our defences but the boys dug deep and a great converted try for number eight Tom Ailes after 74 minutes gave us some breathing space going into the last six minutes.

“Hull did score their fourth try on 80 minutes to give them two losing bonus points but the day belonged to us with a hard-fought win.

“It was a well-deserved victory but lessons to be learned.

“As in the previous week we have to find a way of closing the game out after a wonderful first half of rugby.”