St Helens fall to costly Hull FC defeat at Langtree Park

St Helens' hopes of winning the League Leaders' Shield have taken another blow following a second defeat on the bounce.

The hosts fell to a 32-22 home reverse against Hull FC to find themselves five points off leaders Leeds Rhinos.

First blood went the way of the Saints, as Luke Thompson found a way through 23 minutes in to open the scoring.

Curtis Naughton soon hit back for the visitors, however, touching down for Marc Sneyd to add the extras and level things up at Langtree Park.

It was Keiron Cunningham's men who upped things prior to the interval to take control, with Adam Swift and James Roby helping to open up a 12-point half-time lead.

The second period was all about the Black and Whites, though, thanks to Tom Lineham and Joe Westerman touching down within 13 minutes of the restart to swing things once more.

Jamie Shaul was the next visiting player to find the chalk, but Hull - and in particular Naughton - were not finished there with 15 minutes still left on the clock.

Mark Percival did add a fourth try of the contest for the Saints, but only after seeing Naughton cross over twice in quick succession to round off his hat-trick of tries and secure a storming win for Hull.