Paul Wellens’ decision to shuffle his winning side just about paid off as St Helens beat Hull FC 16-10 at the Totally Wicked Stadium.

That victory takes them to second place in the Betfred Super League.

The Saints head coach restored Jack Welsby at full-back for the first time since the England star recovered from a knee operation, despite recent match-winning displays at the back from team-mate Tristan Sailor.

Welsby struggled for large parts of the match and a dejected-looking Sailor, shunted back into the halves, was replaced by Jonny Lomax early in the second period.

But Saints rallied late with Welsby integral to the try from Moses Mbye that all but sealed the contest.

Saints led by two at the end of a first period in which they were plainly the better team but were repeatedly let down by handling errors.

The hosts took the lead in exhilarating fashion after eight minutes when Morgan Knowles shrugged off Yusuf Aydin and zig-zagged over from halfway before Kyle Feldt kicked the simplest of conversions.

But after a second try was ruled out for a knock-on by Welsby in the build-up, the momentum began to shift and a loose pass from Welsby to Sailor on the halfway sparked the move that got the Black and Whites on the board.

Saints avoided a drop-out through Owen Dagnall but Harry Robertson was dispossessed deep in a clattering challenge by Lewis Martin, and Davy Litten stretched over to slap down the loose ball.

Zak Hardaker kicked the conversion and the visitors, currently clinging to the sixth and final play-off place, ought to have been level at the break only for Hardaker to screw a penalty wide.

Saints were no better with the ball at the start of the second half and Wellens’ decision to withdraw an unhappy-looking Sailor after 46 minutes in favour of Lomax clearly did not meet with the universal approval of the home fans.

Feldt kicked the unconvincing hosts back four points clear with 30 remaining and Welsby showed a flash of his old self as he sent the impressive Mbye crashing over for Saints’ second try after 64 minutes.

Only stunning Hull defence denied Matt Whitley a third for Saints after Welsby – who was clearly regaining confidence by the minute – retrieved Mark Percival’s high kick and laid off to his team-mate under the posts.

Lewis Martin zoomed over in the left corner to give the visitors hope with eight minutes remaining, but Hardaker horribly screwed his conversion attempt wide and Saints held on to claim a crucial win.

Leigh overcome crisis-hit Salford

Winger Josh Charnley sparked a late points spree as top-two contenders Leigh returned to winning ways, overwhelming Super League crisis club Salford 38-6 at Leigh Sports Village.

The visitors fielded nine loan players in their latest new look line-up, including Rowan Milnes whose signing was only confirmed earlier in the day.

But Paul Rowley’s side had the temerity to take a first-half lead and only trailed 12-6 after 59 minutes before conceding 26 points to succumb to a 21st Super League defeat.

With Charnley notching two of his team’s seven tries, Leigh eventually put recent defeats to Leeds and Hull behind them.

Second in Super League’s all-time try-scoring charts behind Ryan Hall, Charnley’s latest efforts put him 24th in the list of all-time scorers in the British game with 314.

Even with the victory Leigh stay fifth in the table, albeit just one point behind second-placed Wigan.

Matt Davis, Bailey Hodgson and AJ Towse also touched down in the final quarter to go with first-half efforts from Tesi Niu and Ethan O’Neill.

Leigh have the worst points difference of any of the top seven sides and Salford’s unexpected resistance ensured they did not make any significant inroads.

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