But for the first 20 minutes, all seemed to be going to plan. Hornets stood up well to Halifax's supersized front row and even had the audacity to play a bit of football to unzip the home defence: Gary Hulse jinking and darting through to score a rare try on 13 minutes.

On the next attack, Hornets forced a repeat set close to the 'fax line - but Simon Baldwin coughed the ball on tackle one and the momentum was gone.

And once Halifax engaged the cogs, Hornets looked lost.

There are few things certain in Rugby league, but one nailed on fact is that if you give Graham Holroyd half a yard, he'll make you pay. And he did.

With Hornets standing off Holroyd, he was able to showboat his way through almost his entire repertoire of teasing kicks and passes, almost without interference. And once Halifax had scored two nicely executed tries in two minutes through Smith and Gibson, the game looked dead in the water.

Wiith his kicking boots on Holroyd turned fours into sixes and added a penalty for good measure to take Halifax in 20-4 up at the break.

It was vital that Hornets scored first in the second half - if only to try and secure the 'loser's point'. But Halifax began the half at a much faster tempo, with Southern hurling his not unsubstantial bulk to the line after just three minutes. And - much like June in Yorkshire - the floodgates opened.

Absent defence gave Hoare a straighforward try on 49 minutes; good interchanged passing between forwards sent Greenwood in after 51 minutes.

Hornets did deviate from the mundane once in the second period. Phil Hasty running at the line with purpose and releasing Iain Marsh for a determined try.

But it was brief respite. Royston resumed normal service after 57 minutes and, with the Halifax scoreboard operator in danger of repetitive strain injury, kept the scoreboard ticking over with further tries by Royston and Penkywicz.

To add insult to injury, Hornets had Dave McConnell sin-binned for a frustrated flailing tackle after 68 minutes. A gloomy afternoon for sure; the only real bright spot, the intruduction of U21 player Todd O'Brien as McConnell's understudy.

After the game, Darren Abram said: "We've been up against it with injuries and that's reflected in the team balance. We had a game plan and for 20 minutes we looked the better team. We went four-nil in front, but then the errors started to creep in."

He went on: "I was totally embarrassed with some of the players. Not all of them, but there were only a few players out there with any enthusiasm and it's not on."

Whilst not quite as bad as the shambles at Sheffield and Widnes, this defeat was harder to take. While Halifax have spent a small fortune on players, the killer difference at the Shay was at Half back where Holroyd and Watson were allowed to play with expansive confidence.

Hornets on the other hand still look way short on spark and incision - and every week, there's less of the season to salvage.

With the TV game against Dewsbury looming large in ten days, Hornets need a radical transformation is they are to avoid another prime-time thumping.

And, while the faithful cross everything in the hope that the injury list clears up, they might well look to the skies and pray to their deity of choice for a long awaited miracle.