Hornets turn up the heat
The Hornets faithful turned up in good numbers to enjoy the sunshine and see their side clock-up an impressive third win from three games in just 8 days.
Having claimed the scalp of Barrow in their previous home game, Blackpool are clearly improving - but the first minute dismissal of Sands for a reckless high tackle on Jono Muir left them with too much to do. But they did make a decent fist of it, scrambling and tackling in numbers to keep the first quarter scoreless.
But a neat Paul Rolls pass unzipped the Panthers' defence after 20 minutes and Chris Giles was the grateful recipient. 'Bomber' Sneyd was deadly accurate with the extras.
Then a quick fire double whammy from Dave Cunliffe - the first following a brave charge-down by Muir, the second shrugging odd tacklers from close range - put Hornets in the driving seat. Sneyd again flawless with the boot.
Referee Mr Halloran clamped down on niggly play the balls with Blackpools' Munro and Hornets' Rolls dispatched to the sin-bin and a momentary lapse in defence on virtually the last play of the half enabled Mayberry to muscle in for Blackpool's sole contribution to the first 40 minutes.
Indeed, Blackpool started the second half in determined mood, laying siege to the Hornets line before creating a weaving 60 metre try for Leather in the 46th minute. Having weathered the early storm, Hornets regained their composure and worked the ball steadily downfield - where a slick pass from Sneyd slotted Leroy Rivett in for a well taken try.
With Hornets concentrating on completion and Blackpool visibly wilting in the heat, the visitors took their chances when they came. Hard working Ian Sinfield worked a nice gap for Martin Ainscough to score on 70 minutes, then Carl Sneyd grabbed a deservec try of his own and - with seconds remaining - Paul Rolls sold an outrageous dummy and stepped through an exhausted defence to score under the black dot. With the hooter sounding, Sneyd slammed home the conversion.
Whilst, perhaps, lacking the bounce and spark of the week's earlier games, this was a steady, solid performance against a Panthers side that worked hard and played some expansive football.
With Swinton, Skolars and York to come in the run-in, it's a good time to have some momentum: "We want to keep this roll going," said Darren Shaw afterwards. "We're pretty happy with how things are going... all we can do is keep looking after what we're doing and keep progressing."
And - as the happy Hornets supporters will testify - this rate of progress is very satisfactory indeed.
|
:
