Pearce pleased with character to withstand Ilkley fightback

Gary Pearce believes Saturday’s 31-25 win over Ilkley shows the development the team has made in the last year.
Hull withstood a second half fightback from the visitors who rallied from 31-10 to gain a second bonus point by getting to within six points of Hull.
Pearce feels his side let Ilkley back into the game but was pleased with the way his side stood up to the test posed to them.
“We didn’t take our chances,” Pearce said.
“We had them on the ropes at 31-10 and we spilled three or four chances.
“You have to give them some credit as they defended well and tried to play. “They are not a bad side and they have good players who can hurt you if you miss a tackle.
“We kept our composure towards the end which 12 months ago we might have folded but we made better decisions.
“It was closer than we would have liked at the end, but we didn’t take our opportunity to pull away from them earlier in the game.
“To get five points wis pleasing and I can’t fault the effort.
“We have set the challenge to reach Christmas unbeaten to keep the pressure on.
“If we can do that, we might find ourselves in the top two or three.
“A trip to Birkenhead will be physical and they are not at the bottom for no reason.”