John Cartwright has praised Aidan Sezer for 'icing the game' and ensuring that Hull FC are coming back from Huddersfield Giants with the win in the locker. An ugly victory, the Black and Whites scrounged their way to two points, with their captain and half-back stepping up with the big moments when they mattered most.

Sealing victory with a late drop-goal, Sezer also put Hull into field position for their first try with a 40/20 kick before assisting Lewis Martin with a floating pass. And on a tough, gritty night, which was far from the perfect watch, the 33-year-old then landed the decisive blow, slotting the ball between the sticks for an 11-10 scalp—with Hull trailing 10-4 deep into the second half.

Speaking on Sezer's performance, which saw the veteran come to the fore with his leadership, Cartwright told Hull Live: "He's doing exactly what good halves do—the way he iced the game at the end, he just set it up, he went early in the tackle count, but you could just see that he backed himself.

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"His kicking game has always been very good, but it's one of those things that does get better with age. He's smart, and he got us around the park—things just weren't going our way; everything they tried just didn't seem to work, but he spoke really well at half-time and I could see him talking over the course of the second half. That's what half-backs earn the big money for—they get you home in the big situations."

Martin's try gave Hull a 4-0 lead early on. However, Huddersfield hit back with two of their own, either side of a John Asiata sin bin, with Jacob Gagai and Adam Swift dotting down. But after a Harvey Barron interception try, Sezer stepped up again, with Cartwright giving an honest assessment on a match that saw Huddersfield edge his side, who were untidy in a scrappy and stop-start game, for large parts.

"We did (scrounge a win)—it went to script," Cartwright explained. "I knew it would be tough conditions. It's a hard place to come and play against a really determined side who probably smelt a win themselves. To come from behind was pleasing, and the way they did it to get back even and then set the field goal up was probably the most pleasing part of the game.

"I thought we got ourselves into a really good position in the first twenty minutes, and then just some high tackles and some errors got them back into the game. The crowd got behind them, and a few decisions went their way. We had to fight really hard, but we probably didn't get back momentum, to be honest. Harvey came up with a bit of individual brilliance, and then Aidan iced the game.

"I thought they were probably the better side for the whole game, but it is a skill when you’re winning those types of games when you're behind on momentum."

Praising the ability of his side to hang in there, with both possession and territory going against them, Cartwright, who will now gear up his side for Thursday's round four game against Leigh Leopards, continued: "I think any win you get in this competition, you’ve got to celebrate them and look where you can get better, and we'll definitely do that. To give them only two tries, with the amount of possession they had in the first-half, they went right up to the 38th minute, and they hadn't made one error with the ball.

"They were putting pressure on us just with the amount of ball they had and penalties they got, but we held firm and we kept our try line a clean sheet in the second half. I was pleased that there was a bit of a bounce back from last week, but she's on again next week. It’s a short turnaround up against another class side."