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Super League: Hull coach Lee Radford bemoans his side's defeat at Catalan Dragons

Image: Lee Radford: The Hull coach was lets to rue missed chances against Catalan Dragons

Hull coach Lee Radford felt his side made some costly errors as they suffered a 20-16 defeat to Catalan Dragons in Perpignan on Saturday.

The loss for Hull was their 10th of the season and left them in ninth and two points below neighbours Hull KR - who saw off Bradford on Friday - in the Super League table.

Radford rued the dropped points, and said: "I'm really disappointed to have come away with a loss from another tight away game.

"It is a long trip and conditions were difficult out there and I just thought that had we been a bit smarter out there earlier then we could have got this game.

We hammered the middle early doors and we lost that battle and from a long shift, they were backing off defensively and we should have exposed that a little bit more than we did.
Lee Radford

"It took us too long in the first half with so many unforced errors, which put us under the pump a little bit.

"I felt it just took us too long to adapt to how they were defending. It took us 65 minutes when we should have recognised that after 20 minutes."

Radford continued: "We hammered the middle early doors and we lost that battle and from a long shift, they were backing off defensively and we should have exposed that a little bit more than we did."

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Radford did praise Mickey Paea for his performance, adding: "He (Paea) had a good game, and there were a few stand out performances out there for us but on the flip side there were some real uncharacteristic errors from some that have been our safe players."

Frayssinous happy

Catalan coach Laurent Frayssinous was pleased to claim maximum points from the match which leaves them seventh in the standings ahead of Sunday's fixtures.

He said: "Firstly, I'm very happy to get the two points today. They were the most important thing for us today, we've opened up a five point lead over them in the table now, that is an important step for us in our aim to achieve a top eight play-off position.

"I think that we stopped playing in the last 20 minutes after the video referee decision went against us.

"I think that stopped our momentum and allowed them to get back into the game. That was disappointing from my point of view.

"We need to improve that. The good thing is that we didn't crack with our defence as well there were some good things and some bad things."

He added: "I think it's difficult to win 42-0 like we did last week (against St Helens) but that is the objective, we need to keep improving and we will learn a lot from games like today.

"Earlier in the season we may have lost that game (but) it shows that we have improved as a team and as individuals over the course of the season so far."

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