As expected, Hornets trip to Chorley yielded a huge win. But for all that,
Hornets were less than convincing and cruised to victory on the back of a
reshuffled side and a stuttering performance.
With Dave Watson and Matt Calland replaced by Steve Gartland and Wayne McHugh respectively, Marlon Billy playing despite his leg injury and Brendan O'Meara obviously carrying his arm, a patched up Hornets took a full ten miutes to establish a rhythm.
Owen was first to the line, followed by Larder five minutes later. 21 minutes saw the introduction of Joe 'Chuck' Berry and within five minutes his hat- trick was underway as he took a neat pass, stepped and sloped in from close range.
Then Hornets scored tries in rapid succession, Steve Gartland taking advantage of space out wide, followed straight fron the kick off by a great effort from Owen backing up a huge break in the middle of the field.
Larder grabbed his second two minutes later and, just when it looked like the clock might save Chorley's embarrasment - and with Hornets already contemplating the half time breather - the Lynx sprayed the ball wide from a close range play the ball for Talbot to score.
Half time 32-6.
The second half continued much like the first, only seconds old when Gartland found a hole wide out to score. Joe Berry clocked his second three minutes later - bustling and barging defenders on his way to the line - and Owen was close behind to complete his hat-trick. Berry himself helped himself to a gold watch four minutes later, dragging defenders over the line with him in a great show of strength and determination.
But where we might have expected Chorley to fade and die, they showed great character, capitalising on some slack Hornets handling in the middle of the park to work space out wide for Wilcock to score just after the hour.
This slight blip over, normal service was resumed three minutes later, Danny Wood adding to his points haul with a well taken try.
In the closing stages, with the game well and truly gone and heads down, Chorley offered scant resistance as Hornets passed Oldham's total the week before - first through Tawhai, then McHugh, who showed up well in his move up from the Alliance side - to close the scoring in the last minute.
For all their effort, Chorley really are struggling to handle sides in the top half of the table. having seen them wilt against Whitehaven a month before, I thought we'd have far too much in the tank for them and, even with a depleted side that played only in patches, Hornets cruised to the win. Swinton Next Sunday will provide a significantly sterner test, so Martin Hall will be looking for a marked improvement in ball safety and handling.
Hornets were guilty of over-elaboration at times and, with better teams to come, that will get you severely punished. Our man of the match award is shared between Paul Owen and Joe Berry who should both have better timepieces this week, but Sean Cooper is also worth mentioning in dispatches for his sterling first half performance.
And finally, apologies to our readers for the late appearance of this report - despite my employer's attempt to work me into an early grave, it's still twelve hours better than the Observer!