Hull head coach John Cartwright told BBC Radio Humberside:
“I’m really disappointed for the players that they didn’t get a result. They gave their everything.
“I’m so proud of the playing group. There were another couple of injuries tonight but whoever we put out there just keeps turning up.
“Everyone we come [up] against it’s a battle, we give the opposition a fight, but we are just lacking that little bit of class to get over the line.”
On his immediate future:
“I don’t know. I’ve got a couple of meetings early next week and then we’ll be a little but clearer where we go from there.
“It’s a difficult one. I certainly don’t want to let that playing group down but sometimes these things are not in your hands.
I don’t want to talk about it too much because it’s the unknown. I’ll be a little bit clearer next week.”
St Helens head coach Paul Rowley told BBC Radio Merseyside:
“It was a gritty performance I would say. We had to find a different way. Credit to Hull, what they did defensively challenged us, but we found our rhythm in the second half. We’ve done it tough and we deserved that result.
“We knew it would be an emotional night and that would add to the start in particular that Hull would produce and they did just that so no surprises there.
“John [Cartwright] is a good bloke and he works hard. As coaches we all have sympathy and empathy for everyone’s situation but we know what the job is about.”