The tie of the sixth round of the 2016 Ladbrokes Challenge Cup saw a high flying Hull FC travel to The home of the cup kings, St Helens as the BBC cameras descended on Langtree Park. With just one defeat in the last eight Super League outings Hull have made it up to third place on the ladder, two points above fifth placed St Helens. With Castleford, Catalans, Huddersfield, Wakefield, Warrington, Widnes and Wigan already booked safely into this evenings quarter final draw, would it be Hull or Saints would be joining them? Saints were clear favourites with the bookies, but Hull were confident of maintaining their current run of wins. After good early pressure, Saints opened the scoring on four minutes when Mark Percival span out of a tackle after a right to left passing move to ground five metres in from the touchlineLuke Walsh added the extra two for a great start for the home side. The visitors were level on ten minutes as Danny Houghton bounced over the line off a Leon Pryce pass, and despite the best efforts of three Saints tacklersMarc Sneyd kicked the extra two and Saints now knew they were going to have to work for this one. A penalty after a high tackle by Kyle Amor, followed by weak tackling from Saints under their own sticks, allowed Scott Taylor to walk out of a Greenwood tackle and dive over by the right uprightSneyd kicked an easy two pointer for 12-6. The Airlie Birds were starting to dominate when on twenty-one Gareth Ellis found a massive gap in the Saints defence to walk over thanks mainly to a great 40-20 from Sneyd which had given them great positionSneyd kicked the extras and Saints were in defensive disarray. Just after thirty minutes Louis McCarthy-Scarsbrook pushed his way past Sneyd to ground on the lineWalsh kicked the two to reduce the arrears to just six points. After a great barnstorming run by Minichiello, Jamie Shaul was in support to take a quick play the ball and cross through a half-asleep Saints defence with three minutes of the half remainingSneyd was again accurate with the boot and when he added a drop goal with seconds of the half remaining it gave FC a half time lead of 25-12. It was a great start to the second half for Saints when Luke Walsh tortured the Hull defence running sixty metres and throwing a dummy to the wing before coming inside to scoreWalsh added brilliantly from the touchline and reduced the deficit to just seven points. But is was brief respiteOn fifty-three Curtis Naughton was on the overlap on the right wing to take a long pass, round the flailing winger, and ground in the cornerThe only relief for Saints was that Sneyd missed the conversion leaving the margin at eleven points at 29-18. A high tackle from Jon Wilkin, thirty metres in front of his own sticks, gave Marc Sneyd a simple kick to again extend the FC lead to three tries and push his side closer to the quarter finals. On sixty-four a kick to the corner from Sneyd was collected by Talanoa and passed to Kirk Yeaman to round the last defender and groundSneyd added the extras for 37-18 and it now looked an impossible ask for Saints. It was all over on sixty-nine when Scott Taylor used all his strength to ground the ball after Sneyd seemed to have bombed the try-scoring opportunityAs Sneyd added the extras the Saints players knew that the game was over and that there would be no Wembley visit in 2016 for the red vee. A seventy-third minute spectacular try from Fetuli Talanoa, diving over to ground one-handed by the corner flag, his body in full flight over the sidelineSneyd failed to add the extras but the large and vociferous visiting support didn't care, they were already partying in the sunshine. With the exception of the opening ten minutes this was a game which Hull FC totally dominated, and one in which the Saints looked like a poor second bestHull look like they could be the real deal this year and they are a side with a credible chance of a couple of final appearancesBut it is back to the drawing board for Kieron Cunningham's side as they try to ensure a top four finish. Saints: Lomax, Dawson, Peyroux, Percival (T), Owens, Fages, Walsh (T, 3G), Walmsley, Roby, Amor, Vea, Greenwood, Wilkin Subs: McCarthy-Scarsbrook (T), Tasi, Richards, Knowles. FC: Shaul (T), Naughton (T), Fonua, Yeaman (T), Talanoa (T), Pryce, Sneyd (7G, DG), Taylor (2T), Houghton (T), Watts, Washbrook, Minichiello, Ellis (T)Subs: Green, Thompson, Hadley, Bowden. Referee: Richard Silverwood Attendance: