A few more pictures

Kev leads the way as Hornets ram it up Dewsbury

Hornets withstood a Dewsbury fightback and a last half an hour of good old fashioned Yorkshire spoiling to record their first win of a troubled season.

Leading the way was Kev King, racking up 20 points which included a 15 minute second half hat-trick.

Hornets were away with the whistle, starting the game by forcing three back-to back sets on the Dewsbury line. The pressure told after 8 minutes when the lively Wayne Corcoran punished a napping defence with a one yard sucker try. King added the extras.

Hornets continued to press with little reward, and the first time Dewsbury ventured into Hornets territory after 20 minutes, they came back with a try as Preece got a hand to a Maloney grubbber.

Hornets went back on the offensive, but a Bretherton chargedown of a last tackle kick saw Maloney gather and sprint 60 metres to score. Hornets responded immediately.

Regaining possession in the Dewsbury half, Hornets worked the ball across the line where Svabic's delightful show and go unzipped the defence sufficiently for him to glide through and score by the posts. King applied the two.

On the next foray into Dewsbury teritory, Hornets again worked the ball well. This time Gary Hulse taunted the defence with a lateral run and, with covering tacklers stretched out of position, slipped a slide rule grubber into the in-goal for Tommy Goulden to touch down. Kingy was flawless with the boot and Hornets went in 18-10 up at the break.

Dewsbury started the second half with real intent. Exploiting the strong wind, Maloney struck two excellent 40/20s, each providing the platform for Rams tries: firstly from Preece, secondly from Crawley. With a soft penalty for offside for good measure, Hornets found themselves 24 18 behind.

Cue the intervention of Kevin King. On 52 minutes, Hornets worked a tidy move with Simon Baldwin as the pivot; the ball shipped wide for King to score. Kev made light of the swirling wind to slot a superb conversion from wide out.

Four minutes later, Hornets worked much the same move with much the same result. This time King pulled the conversion attempt wide.

With Hornets now back in front and neutralising any remaining Dewsbury threats, the home side resorted to flopping, lying on and cheap shots in virtually every tackle. Lovely to watch Andy Kelly.

Hornets kept their heads whilst all around them were attempting to remove them and on 68 minutes Kev King punished the Rams' flimsy right centre channel again; shrugging off defenders to score.

With Dewsbury now reduced to sprawling and mauling, Hornets worked hard to play around them. Indeed, the game was sealed on 75 minutes when Corcoran shimmied and dummied his way to the line from 20 metres.

Job well and truly done.

Overall, Hornets looked the more cohesive and, bar a ten minute period early in the second half, more prepared to move the ball constructively.

Certainly, this performance ably demonstrated just what you have to do to be competitive in this division. And, with much to be learned from our game at Saints on Friday, perhaps we can look forward with a brighter outlook.