Three late tries from Gareth Raynor, Mark Calderwood and Josh Cordoba gave Hull the win but by that time, we were down to just the one substitute.

"We certainly were in a position to win the game of footy," Dixon said. "But we had just one interchange available. We had Adam Peek with a busted knee, Jason Chan with a busted rib and Peter Lupton with a busted knee and in that last 15 minutes we had nothing to go to."

We had led 6-4 until Raynor slid in at the corner for his fourth try of the season 10 minutes from the end and were good value for our lead as Hull displayed all the credentials of a side who had won just three of their last 16 games.

It had looked as though the sides would go in scoreless at the interval following a pedestrian opening half, until Craig Hall, recalled from a loan spell with Widnes this week, finally broke the deadlock seconds before the hooter.

The Crusaders bossed the play for long periods in the first half and should have gone ahead through captain Jace Van Dijk.

Marshall Chalk and Chris Beasley carved out a clear run to the line for their skipper, and it looked as though the Australian would take full advantage until Jordan Tansey managed to haul him down with inches to spare.

Hull then managed to finally win some territory and, on the back of three straight sets of six, Hall broke free of a would-be tackle to mark his first Hull appearance in exactly three months with a fifth try of the season for them. Danny Tickle failed with the goal to sum up an uninspiring half.

We made an encouraging start to the second half and the pressure soon paid off as we took the lead with 50 minutes gone. Quinn was at the heart of the move that laid on a second score of the year for Jason Chan, softly laying the ball off for the rampaging forward who could not be stopped from 15 yards. Quinn added the goal and Hull's fans gave us a standing ovation in an unorthodox display of displeasure towards their side.

Two goal-line drop-outs in a row helped the Welsh side maintain their momentum while Calderwood and Richard Whiting ruined a chance for Hull to draw level when they engaged in a spell of kicking the ball ahead rather than running with it following a clean break.

It mattered little to Hull, though, as they soon managed to regain the lead, with Raynor succeeding where he had failed in the opening half after Shaun Berrigan's pass, allowing Tickle to convert from the touchline and extend his run of being the only man in the competition to score in every game this season to 22.

Calderwood then rubbed salt into our wounds by skipping in to mark his return from injury with a try after a slick Whiting pass, before Cordoba added more than a shade of unfairness to the scoreline with a close-range effort.