It was a miserable day all round. Hornets naming a team with thirteen positional or personnel changes were bound to stutter. Add to that a crowd shrivelled and shrunken by lousy weather and the quality of opposition (those picking their games could have been forgiven for thinking the result was a foregone conclusion) and the afternoon really did have the air of a game that didn't matter very much.

Thankfully, Farnworth had other ideas as this Hornets combination gifted the opposition their usual start - a dropped ball close to the line gathered by Riley and handed on to Tony Maher to score by the posts. Paul Wood converted, Farnworth sniffed an unlikely upset and Hornets supporters rolled eyes skywards and shook their heads.

Thankfully Hornets got their derrieres in gear, first Paul Davidson blasting through at close range, then Danny Wood squeezing through tacklers to dive in, followed on the next attack by a Sinfield try courtesy of a tidy inside ball from Tawhai. 18-6 - and Farnworth looked dead in their boots. But you can always count on Hornets to do something stupid and when they fell asleep on the last tackle at close range, Peter Forrest flopped in to remind them what they were out there for.

With the half ticking away Hornets played their first real football of the day - the ball moved smartly across the field for Casey Mayberry to show his opposite number a clean pair of heels and scoot in. Half time 22-12, Hornets supporters shrugging with indifference in stark contrast to the occupants of the Farnworth directors' box, who celebrated a tenacious and fruitful first 40.

Despite further disruptions to the line up (Ayres for Mayberry, Gartland for Tawhai, Sinfield returning for O'Meara ) Hornets started the second half with purpose, with Matt Long and Paul Davidson scoring in quick succession - the first following a scampering Dave Watson break, the second another short burst throught he defence. But Farnworth didn't lie down.

Once again Hornets fell asleep on their own line. After Farnworth had appeared to have peed their tackles away looking for an opening, prop Andy Davis took the more direct route and crashed in from all of a yard.

With the game draining to a close, Hornets finally worked the ball to Sean Cooper, who swatted tacklers off on a blockbusting 40 metre run to the line. The injury resulting from his final lunge saw him carried from the field in a precautionary neck brace.

Still this wasn't enough and with the seconds counting down, Farnworth ground the ball back onto the Hornets line and worked a neat switch move for Forrest to walk through a huge hole.
Finis - thank god.

Take no credit from Farnworth, they stood up and took Hornets on - better than York, Swinton and Batley to be fair. And in notching 28 points, scored more against us than any other side this season. Hornets started without Billy, Agar, Ball, Berry, Larder, and Smith, but should still have been good enough to win convincingly. Some might suggest that to cruise in third gear in a low-key cup game in order to reduce the risk of injury is the sensible thing to do. And I might agree if I hadn't been cold and bored for most of it. And if anyone had seen Hornets see off York the previous week, they'd have known that - in reality - they were doing just enough.

Martin Hall seemed to spend most of the second half shaking his head in the dugout - and who could blame him. It was a lazy, lackadaisical performance that we'll all want to forget.

And in the end it handed Farnworth a day of glory - they came to Spotland, gave as good as they got and fully deserved the ovation that rang the Bells from the field.

Next week's game at Dewsbury should see a return to business as usual - and not a moment too soon. But yesterday was Farnworth's day and they really did make the most of it.