MATCH SUMMARY St Helens (16) 26 Tries: Wellens, Fozzard, Long, Lyon, Gardner. Goals: Lyon 3 Hull (20) 27 Tries: Yeaman, Raynor, R Horne, Cooke. Goals: Cooke 5. Drop: Cooke

Hull shrugged off losing star centre Kirk Yeaman to a first-half injury to deservedly lead 20-16 at half-time.

Cooke stretched Hull's lead to 10 points but Saints hit back with tries from Jamie Lyon and Ade Gardner.

With time running out, Cooke's drop goal went in off the post to give Hull a famous win after a thrilling game.

It was the 6ft 5in stand-off's first drop goal for six years and marked a huge turnaround from the 46-0 home defeat that Hull suffered at the hands of St Helens at the beginning of the Super League season.

Yeaman set to miss Test

But Hull's delight at an eighth successive win was dampened by the news that Yeaman, carried off after 24 minutes, appears to have suffered a serious ankle ligament injury.

Anderson calls for leniency

St Helens could also face recriminations after a mix-up meant they had 14 men on the field for around a minute early in the second half.

The discrepancy will be investigated and could result in sanctions being imposed on the club.

St Helens coach Daniel Anderson:
"It's not nice to lose, but I can't fault our effort even though we probably left our intelligence in the dressing room at half-time."

Hull coach Peter Sharp:
"Cookey has always got that in him and I thought it was his best game of the season tonight, or certainly the best game he's had since I came here. Richard Horne was superb and the halves certainly did their job tonight."

St Helens: Wellens, Gardner, Lyon, Talau, Meli, Pryce, Long, Fozzard, Cunningham, Cayless, Gilmour, Wilkin, Sculthorpe.
Replacements: Roby, V Anderson, Graham, Fa'asavalu.

Hull: Tony, Blacklock, Domic, Yeaman, Raynor, Cooke, R. Horne, Dowes, Swain, Carvell, Radford, McMenemy, Washbrook.
Replacements: Lee, Wheeldon, King, G Horne.

Referee: A Klein (London).