ZAK DROPS HULL IN IT 14 15

The Warriors full-back stepped forward with just five minutes remaining to seal a tense and often feisty clash.

Liam Marshall’s two tries and an action-packed performance from young forward trio Oliver Partington, Liam Byrne and Morgan Smithies looked to have sealed victory for Adrian Lam’s side.

But Scott Taylor’s try and a Marc Sneyd penalty levelled the scores going into the closing stages.

Sneyd had settled the reverse fixture between the clubs with a golden-point drop-goal and almost slotted another before Hardaker’s winner.

But pressure from Willie Isa, who had a running battle with Sneyd all night, pressured him to miss and the Warriors now trail Hull by just two points with five games left.

The only real negative for Lam was a worrying chest injury to skipper Sean O’Loughlin that forced him out of the action in the first half.

The first half yielded just one try but ended with a feisty confrontation between Sneyd and Isa. Sneyd booted Hull into an early 4-0 advantage with two penalties before Wigan hit back through a rare eight-point try. Marshall outjumped Bureta Faraimo to take Thomas Leuluai’s kick and touch down, being adjudged to have been tackled in the air in the process.

Hardaker added the conversion from out wide, the extra two from in front and a penalty shortly after to give his side a six-point lead.

That was cut to two right on halftime through Sneyd’s third penalty after he was hit late by Isa after a kick.

The pair continued their disagreement as they headed for the changing rooms, but focus switched back to Marshall after the restart

Leuluai linked with Hardaker to give Marshall just enough space to go through Sneyd and touch down in the corner. Hull’s Ratu Naulago was then denied a swift reply by prop Tony Clubb’s superb covering tackle.

Young Wigan front rower Byrne then had a try disallowed for a double movement after more smart work from Leuluai. Hull took advantage as Taylor crashed over against his former club under the posts to close the gap to two points again.

Another Sneyd penalty, awarded for a Smithies high tackle on Mark Minichiello, levelled the scores before Hardaker’s late winner.