For the second week running, Hornets found themselves brutally crucified on the back of another almost surreal refereeing performance.

This time it was Stupid League whistler Bob Connelly that provided the platform for a Hornets defeat courtesy of a 19-6 penalty count.

The effect of his quite partisan refereeing was compounded by the fact that Hornets matched Featherstone in scoring three tries, but spent most of this game on the back foot - penalised time and again for offences which either only Mr Connelly saw, or which he gave only when the home crowd shouted. Which they did at every opportunity once they'd sussed out what a gullible oaf he was.

Despite a battering in the first quarter - six penalties to one and a host of dubious knock-on/forward pass calls - Hornets trailed just 3-nil. Indeed it was testimony to their determination that they took the lead on 22 minutes: Radney Bowker unzipping the defence from close quarters with a last tackle shimmy to score; Nanyn adding the extras.

But it didn't last long. First Dooler broke the Hornets line via some shoddy tackling; Whiting backed up and gobbled up the yards; Stokes finished in style; Dickens converted: 9-6.

Two more gift penalties - one which saw Paul Owen sent to the sin-bin for holding down - took Fev in 13-6 up at half time.

Rovers started the second half at a gallop - - taking just 60 seconds for Chapman to flop in from dummy half for a soft try. Dickens converted: 19-6 and Hornets in big trouble.

Against the steady flow of penalties, Hornets ground Featherstone back to their own line; Substitute hooker Hamilton crashing in from close range on 50 minutes. Nanyn converted and Hornets were resuscitated at 19-12.

But the penalties kept coming and - by the time Nanyn crashed in to score eight minutes later, Hornets were eight points adrift after two Dickens shots at goal and a Briggs drop. And ridiculous they were - perfectly good tackles pulled as 'high shots' (the most bizzarre being a superb crunching tackle from James Bunyan which had the main stand baying for his head on a pole. Connelly conceded and gave the penalty); a blatant knock-on pulled as raking in the tackle. Paul Owen binned again for a supposed holding down. Bloody awful, really.

On 65 minutes came the ultimate indignity. Whiting steamed into a tackle leading with an elbow that made contact with Dave Larder's face; needless to say he dropped off and, while he exacted retribution by beating the crap out of whiting, Stokes scored wide out; Dickens converted; Larder got ten minutes; we went home very peed off.

A trip to Post Office Road is a hard one at the best of times, but when Featherstone receive as much assistance as they got from Mr Connelly it becomes easier to understand their 100% home record. Indeed, Villeneuve were similarly penalised out of the game in the Challenge Cup earlier in the season - to the point where their president Mr Soubiran swore they'd never play in the tournament again.

Hally wasn't happy either: "I find it hard to come to terms with the notion that our discipline was 200% worse than Rovers," he said - and the sizeable, vociferous Hornets following would probably agree.

They'd also be the first to admit that Hornets lacked cohesion and fluidity - but, in the final analysis, the outcome of this game lay in the hands of the idiot in yellow.