In the first Hull derby with fans in close to two years, the Rovers, who were without the services of Culburra's Adam Quinlan after he dislocated his shoulder against Catalans earlier this month and is set for season-ending surgery, started sluggishly - which led to the hosts scoring the fixture's first try.

The Rivers failed to shift the defensive line right quickly enough, allowing Hull FC's Adam Swift enough space to cross in the corner.

That seemed to spur the Robins into life.

A courageous kick chase and forced drop-out against Jake Connor shifted the momentum in the visitors' favour.

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Five successive sets on the Hull line later, the visitors finally made the pressure count as Brad Takairangi's inch-perfect pass found Jimmy Keinhorst, who produced a sublime one-handed finish to level the scores.

The remainder of the first half, much like the entire game, was back and forth.

But a pivotal few minutes before half-time were decisive.

Rovers looked as though they would go into the break ahead when Rowan Milnes kicked through and collected in front of the travelling support, with Ben Crooks converting to make it 10-4.

But after Connor flicked back a Marc Sneyd kick to enable Bureta Faraimo to touch down, Crooks then misjudged the resulting kick-off, booting out on the full.

Rovers' defence was then caught off-guard as Josh Reynolds' pass sent Carlos Tuimavave charging towards the line, with the centre's footwork seeing him cut through, with Sneyd's conversion making it 16-10 in the blink of an eye.

Whatever Smith said to his troops at half-time had the desired effect though, as, within four minutes of the restart, Rovers were level.

Their third try came when Crooks atoned for that earlier mistake by scything through a gap after a wonderful pass from Milnes, but the back and forth nature of the derby would continue when Faraimo crossed for his second soon after.

A penalty from Sneyd made it 22-16, and when the scrum-half kicked a drop goal with six minutes remaining, it looked as though the victory was secured.

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But after Matt Parcell pinched the ball to put the Robins in position to strike, Jez Litten's pass sent Albert Vete across for his third try in three games.

With Crooks converting, the gap was down to a solitary point.

With four minutes left to produce one more scoring play, Rovers threw everything they could at FC.

With seconds remaining, the Robins frantically tried to keep the ball alive, and amid the mayhem, Tuimavave thought he'd picked up a loose ball to race the length and put the game to bed.

However, that was ruled out for a knock-on in the build-up, giving Rovers one last chance.

But as Milnes lined up the drop goal which could have taken the game to golden point, Jordan Lane charged the ball down and collected to finally break Rovers' hearts and win the derby for Hull 23-22.

The Rovers return to Hull College Craven Park on August 26, where they host the 11^th placed Wakefield Trinity.

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