Halifax 18 Hornets 12
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Snooze - and you lose.
Hornets sleepwalk to defeat.
This was about as bad an advert for NL1 Rugby League as you'll see this season. Two teams who didn't look remotely arsed playing at a glacial pace in a half finished ground with marginally less atmosphere than an asteroid.
With both sides looking determined to bore their opponents into submission, Hornets succumbed as early as the 6th minute when Lawford abd Kirk combined to put Haley in at the corner. Brambani converted.
Not wishing to be left out of this half-hearted bore-fest, referee Jamie Leahy began his acid-trip interpretation of the laws by pulling Hornets for offside at a 12th minute drop out. Brambani said 'thanks': 8-nil.
As Mr Leahy carved up what football there was with a 7-2 first half penalty count in Halifax's favour, Hornets struggled to shake off the torpor, but on 36 minutes showed signs of waking when Chris Giles steamed a kick return 60 metres through 'Fax's right flank: however with players in support left and right, he opted to try and step the full-back only to be hauled down.
Having been temporarliy shaken from their slumber, Hornets rolled over and went back to sleep: mugged for a one yard acting-half sucker try by Hoyle two minutes later. Half time 12-nil and the travelling Hornets fans woken by the sound of distant applause.
The second half began much like the first. Halifax happy to plough a furrow up the centre of the field; Hornets happy to let them. The tedium only broken by a 51st minute Lawford penalty to take Halifax into a 14-nil lead.
Hornets needed a drastic alarm call and it arrived with the introduction of Craig Robinson. His determined running at pace shook his colleagues into life and, having gained good field position, new-boy Kevin King found enough space to prise Chris Giles in at the corner just past the hour. King added the touchline extras to give Hornets a glimmer at 14-6.
It was Robinson again who led Hornets' next foray. His step across the line created a huge hole into which he fed Andy Gorski - only for the try to be called back for a forward pass that only Mr Leahy saw. Halifax exhaled and drove the ball back upfield where Radney Bowker took advantage of some sloppy 5th tackle defence to reach in and score. 18-6 and the game slipping away.
But Hornets rallied. Having pushed Halifax back under their own posts, Robinson's determined running took him round a gaggle of defenders to score. Sam Butterworth added the two and with three minutes remaining, Hornets were, incredibly, in with a remote chance of getting something from the game.
But the afternoon ended not with a bang, but with a whimper as Hornets handed over cheap possession and Halifax played down the clock in Hornets' half. And that, mercifully, was that.
The disappoinment came, not from the fact that Hornets lost, but the manner in which they sleepwalked to defeat against a side that, in reality, looked no more creative or capable. The primary factor was the way Hornets were caught snoozing on the last tackle time and again. Having repeatedly withstood Halifax's blunt-instrument approach for the preceding 5 tackles, Hornets defence simply switched off at the key moments.
While Halifax were, marginally, the better side, Mr leahy's handling of this game left much to be desired. Cynics may suggest that his 7-2 second half penalty count in favour of Hornets was a desperate attempt to give his officiating a sheen of parity, but - in keeping with the rest of this game - he had an absolute stinker.
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