Curtis Naughton claimed his second try five minutes from time as Hull FC ended Warrington Wolves' unbeaten start to the season with a dramatic 26-24 win at the KC Stadium.
Warrington looked on course to claim an eighth successive win in the First Utility Super League after snuffing out Hull's recovery from 20-10 down with a second try from former home favourite Tom Lineham.
But in a compelling encounter losing nothing in entertainment value from the heavy Easter programme, Hull had the final word.
Marc Sneyd chipped through and gathered his own kick to score the opening try, but Warrington responded with some now almost typical Chris Sandow magicm as the scrum-half wrong-footed the Hull defence and found Ben Currie, who sent Ryan Atkins clear.
The visitors took the lead as Lineham barged his way over from a quick tap penalty.
Buzzing with that win! Great effort by the boys effort. Class to have my niece there for first… https://t.co/VNKOBCRLiy
— Scott Taylor (@ScottTagTaylor) March 28, 2016
Jamie Shaul brought Hull back level with a good overlapping run to finish off a Sneyd-inspired attack, but Warrington hit back with two tries before half-time through Kevin Penny and Sandow.
Hull started the second half positively and Naughton scored on the left after a break by Danny Washbrook.
Hull continued their fightback with Shaul dabbing through a delicate kick for Kirk Yeaman to score.
With Sneyd's goals, Hull were back ahead 22-20 after an hour but Warrington rallied again and Rhys Evans sent Lineham over.
Hull were not finished, and Naughton found his way over after a Sneyd kick was charged down.
Hull coach Lee Radford praised the mental toughness of his players, saying: "It's a war of attrition. You're running on fumes going into the game and 10-15 minutes in you really feel that.
Great effort from the boys today! Had my lucky mascot cheering me on ⚫️⚪️⚫️⚪️ #mouthfullofsweets # pic.twitter.com/MLwUKiw48q
— Liam Watts (@WATTSY7890) March 28, 2016
"Getting through that is a mental challenge and thankfully we've got plenty of mentally tough blokes within our group and I felt that showed.
"It was a quality performance against some real quality opposition. They are sat at the top of the table for a reason.
“The brand of footy they play is really attractive and we knew we would have to be right on our game to get a result out of it. We are really pleased with that."
Warrington coach Tony Smith was not too downbeat about the result given the work asked of his players over Easter, adding: "There are things we would normally like to do better, but you can't be disappointed after playing Friday and coming out again on Monday.
“I thought it was a fantastic effort from both teams.
"It was five tries each and we could have pinched it right at the end. We had opportunities to score a few more but we were a bit off there on execution. You can get that on certain days and with short turnarounds.”
MONDAY 28TH MARCH 2016
15:00 - ROUND: 8
26 : 24 FT
( 10 - 20 HT )
ATTENDANCE :
OFFICIAL: R HICKS
VENUE: KINGSTON COMMUNICATIONS STADIUM
SCORERS
HULL FC
TRIES
MARC SNEYD, JAMIE SHAUL, CURTIS NAUGHTON 2, KIRK YEAMAN,
GOALS
MARC SNEYD 2, JAMIE SHAUL,
WARRINGTON WOLVES
TRIES
RYAN ATKINS, TOM LINEHAM 2, CHRIS SANDOW, KEVIN PENNY,
GOALS
CHRIS SANDOW, STEFAN RATCHFORD,
