Rotherham Titans suffered heartbreak at the end of a pulsating clash, as winger Michael Adlard ran in to score from a cross-field kick with 2 minutes remaining to give Hull a dramatic 20-17 win.
The result leaves the Humberside outfit as heavy favourites to go on and win the league.
However, despite the disappointing loss, Titans will battle on in pursuit as they attempt to chase down their Yorkshire rivals, alongside Sedgley Park who are still very much in the race to finish top of the pile.
The game itself was played in front of a bumper crowd thanks to the travelling support, but in wintry conditions as a swirling wind and constant drizzle kept both sides attention throughout.
Indeed it was Rotherham who enjoyed the better of things during a keenly fought opening quarter; despite losing experienced prop forward Colin Quigley on 10 minutes to a nasty looking facial injury.
On 16 minutes Titans thought they had opened the scoring, but unfortunately for them they were held-up over the line.
Titans would rue not putting some points on the board during this period of the game, as on 20 minutes Lady Luck turned her back on them.
From a kick through from Hull’s Stephen Johnson, Titans full back Matt Minogue tried to control the ball with his foot; however the ball spun forward allowing his opposite number Reece Dean to hack on and chase through to score.
Boosted by the try Hull came into the game more and they enjoyed some good success, particularly at scrum time.
On the half hour mark and after a number of reset scrums close to the Titans line, referee Tim Allatt awarded the home side a penalty try to make it 12-0 and also yellow carded Roth’s tighthead Rikki Stout in the process.
Things got even worse for Rotherham moments later when they lost back five forward Lewis Wilson to what appeared to be a serious injury and fly half Joe Carlisle, although he would return for the second half.
Somehow however Roth managed to navigate their way through to half time without conceding any more points.
Rejuvenated after the half time oranges Roth came out for the second period with a spring in their step and a determination to leave a mark on the game.
And although Simon Humberstone knocked over a penalty on 46 minutes to extend Hull’s lead to 15-0, it did little to dampen Titans determination.
Within 10 minutes Roth had reduced their arrears to 15-10 following firstly a well taken penalty from Matt Minogue and then a terrific powerful drive culminating in replacement front rower Tom Richardson dotting down for a converted try.
The comeback was complete 11 minutes from time when another powerful drive from the Rotherham pack saw the home side once again struggle to legally keep it out and referee Allatt awarded a penalty try to give Titans a 17-15 lead.
It was always going to be a tight and nervous end to this top of the table clash.
With two minutes remaining on the clock, Hull, after failing to penetrate the Rotherham defence, pulled the ball out and opted for a cross field kick.
The risky option paid dividends for the home side as the ball bounced kindly and sat up for the chasing winger Michael Adlard to dot down for a dramatic win!
Rotherham will feel they did enough to win the game, but sometimes the bounce of the ball in tight games ultimately decides the winner.
Speaking after the match Titans Adam Byron said:
"That's the rollercoaster of rugby union, it is exactly what happens. Sometimes the bounce of the ball goes your way, sometimes it doesn't. We’ve had a few decisions in recent weeks that went our way, but today the bounce of the ball went Hull’s way.
"We were frustrated at half time but really proud of that second half. The boys went out and did exactly as they were asked and they showed great heart and managed the game well.
"In all honesty we were pretty unlucky not to come away with the win. Nevertheless our attitude remains the same; we are going to keep fighting the rest of this season and see where that takes us come mid-May."
Referee: Tim Allatt
Attendance: 550
Yellow Card: Stout (Titans), Boothman (Hull)
Titans: Richardson (T), Penalty Try, Minogue (1C, 1P)
Hull: Dean (T), Penalty Try, Adlard (T), Humberstone (1P)
Titans: 15 Matt Minogue, 21 George Tucker (Richardson 33) (Carlisle 41), 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Joe Carlisle (Tucker 34), 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Colin Quigley (Donkor 10) (Richardson 54), 2 Harry Newborn (Bergmanas 53), 27 Rikki Stout, 4 Matt Challinor (Newborn 78), 5 Lewis Wilson (Laxton 33), 6 Zak Poole (Capt.), 7 Matti Williams, 8 Kieran Curran.
Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 28 Keifer Laxton, 18 Alastair Donkor, 19 Tom Richardson, 22 Olly Fisher.
Hull: 15 Reece Dean, 14 Mike Adlard, 13 Iosefo Taunei Turaga, 12 Stephen Johnson, 11 Keane Naylor (Jobling 78), 10 Simon Humberstone (Capt.), 9 Harvey Harding, 1 Loma Kivalu (Beech 32) (Kivalu 71), 2 Mike Jobling (Jones 32) (Makaa'fi 65), 3 Ben Boothman, 4 Cameron Curry, 5 Liam Regardsoe, 6 Latu Makaa'fi (Hicks 34) (Dias 76), 7 Alistair Thomson, 8 Will Hall.
Replacements: 16 Robin Watts, 17 Tom Hicks, 18 Greg Jones, 19 Mike Dias, 20 Charlie Beech.
Photo Credit: Mike Inkley