Cooke haunts Hull again
Paul Cooke pulled the strings as Wakefield Wildcats secured a 29-6 win over Hull FC at Belle Vue.
Last Updated: 10/07/10 10:12pm
Paul Cooke pulled the strings as Wakefield Wildcats secured a 29-6 win over his former club Hull FC on Saturday evening.
After 10 years with the Black-and-Whites, Cooke created an unbridgeable chasm between himself and his ex-employers when he resigned in April 2007 and joined city rivals Hull KR.
He did little to justify the hysteria surrounding the move during his three-year stay with Rovers which came to an abrupt and premature end when they offloaded him to the Wildcats in March, but managed to save his stellar performances for when he came up against his old club.
He did that again on Saturday evening, dragging his team back from an early deficit by scoring a try and then making another as well as kicking four goals, to help erase the memories of last weekend's 46-14 horror defeat to Rovers.
Short of Jordan Turner's opener, Hull did little to suggest they had come into the game knowing a win would put them three points clear of fifth-placed Leeds.
Cooke will not be present when they face Hull KR on Thursday, but coach Richard Agar will know a better performance is needed if they are to retain their spot in the top four.
Opportunities
Both sides had early opportunities to score, most notably Hull who saw Danny Tickle shell the ball close to the line after a slick move, but the forward was able to make amends as he set up the opening try after 10 minutes.
He rose above Darryl Millard to collect Shaun Berrigan's kick and batted back to Jordan Tansey who fed the supporting Turner for a fifth try in six games.
Having lost so heavily six days ago, Wakefield were in no mood to roll over again and were level within seven minutes.
Typically Cooke was the scorer, breaking through Danny Washbrook's tackle after Julien Rinaldi had gone close, although replays suggested he had not grounded correctly.
Cooke shrugged off the barracking of the Hull fans behind the posts to convert his own try and then created a second for Rinaldi 12 minutes before the break.
The former France hooker agreed a permanent deal with the Wildcats on Friday and celebrated it in style as he crashed over after Richard Whiting had failed to deal with Cooke's high kick to the corner.
Cooke failed with the conversion on this occasion but added a penalty six minutes before the break after Kirk Yeaman's high tackle, with Yeaman then denied a try by the video referee who deemed that Tansey had not played the ball correctly in the build-up.
Stray passes
There was little quality on display from either side after the restart, with penalties and stray passes coming regularly, before Wakefield stretched their lead on 52 minutes.
A sequence of shambolic attempts to start an attack saw Hull penned back on their own line, and Wakefield's territory eventually told as Charlie Leaeno trundled over off a Ben Jeffries pass.
Even the return of Richard Horne after two months out with a knee injury failed to spark Hull into life, and when Jeffries split the posts with a 57th-minute drop goal it was no more than Wakefield deserved, if only for their effort rather than their quality.
But there was no denying the ability shown by Millard in sealing the win with a 75-metre run that saw him turn Whiting inside out after Horne's pass went to ground, before Jason Demetriou added a flattering fifth try in the last minute.
