Hull Kingston Rovers have maintained their strong home record against St Helens with a 24-22 victory in the Super League.
The defending champions made a fast start and scored the game's first try after just five minutes when Jon Wilkin took advantage of a lucky deflection to score under the posts.
However, Hull stunned the visitors with two identical tries from Albert Kelly, who levelled the score when he intercepted a St Helens grubba kick and raced the length of the field to touch the ball down.
A few minutes later he intercepted a St Helens pass near his own goal line, and repeated his earlier run to score a try.
St Helens levelled the scores after as Tommy Makinson side-stepped his way through the defence to touch the ball down on his 100th Super League appearance.
However, Hull regained the lead shortly before the break when Ken Sio scored following a high ball from Terry Campese.
St Helens failed to break through a strong Hull KR defence early in the second half, and they were hit with a sucker punch when Kieran Dixon scored a try for Hull in the 62nd minute.
However, they dragged themselves back into the game when Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook scored a try with six minutes to go, and Jordan Turner touched down in the last minute.
The result hinged on Travis Burns's conversion, but he pushed it wide to confirm St Helens' first loss of the season.
Charlie Bennett
