Hull FC hoping to prove the doubters wrong against Wigan Warriors

Thrown a lifeline by the decision to extend the play-offs to the top six, Hull pulled off a surprise win at third-placed Warrington last week and now face Wigan at the DW Stadium on Thursday night for a place in the November 27 showpiece.

They are once more unfancied against the table-topping Warriors but Sneyd sees that as another chance to upset the odds and take another step towards ending their tag of perennial under-achievers in Super League with a maiden title.

"It's always enjoyable when you can look someone in the face when they've said something not true, shall we say," Sneyd said. "Everybody enjoys doing that.

"We talk about getting up there and challenging for it every single year but, for whatever reason, we always tail off.

"When it went to a six, we saw that as our opportunity to turn what has been a pretty mediocre season into what could be history and we got over the first hurdle."

The decision to switch the final from Old Trafford to the KCOM Stadium means Andy Last's team would get to play at home but Sneyd insists that is a prospect the players have been able to put to the back of their minds.

"To be honest, the final has not been mentioned one little bit," he said. "When you've got a semi-final against Wigan, you can't look past that.

"As soon as the full-time whistle goes and hopefully we've got the win, then all our attention will on being back here in Hull for the Grand Final."

Hull have already lost at the DW Stadium this year and their last meeting with Adrian Lam's team ended in a dismal 36-4 Challenge Cup quarter-final defeat two months ago.

But they will go into Thursday's tie in form, having won their last four matches, and Sneyd says that cup loss is a distant memory.

"It was brought up this week but not for long because obviously it wasn't a good day," he said.

"We're a different team now, we're doing things 10 times better than we did that day."