And so it came to pass that - after running on three cylinders for weeks - the wheels finally came off Hornets' unbeaten NFP run. Full credit to Dewsbury - they did the basics dead right and exploited the fact that Hornets thought that they could do just enough and edge home again. Where other teams this season haven't had the momentum or wherewithal to exploit Hornets' growing complacency, The Rams had both in bucketloads - mostly provided by quicksilver no.7 Jim Elston who ran the show from first whistle to final hooter courtesy of the acres of space afforded him by an over-generous Hornets defence.

It was Dewsbury who kicked the scoreboard into life after just five minutes - Davide Longo possessed by the ghost of Barry Eaton to slot home a penalty for offside. Hornets raised the tempo temporarily - first latham Tawhai diving thorough on a ball dropped by Nathan Batty to score followed six minutes later by Hornets only real move of the game - the ball shipped wide, Smith running onto a tidy short pass from Agar (his only real contribution of the game) to cruise through a huge hole to touchdown.

At 10-2, Dewsbury looked in all sorts of trouble - right up to the point where Russell Smith demonstrated his inability to referee games at this level by sin-binning David Larder somewhat arbitrarily for offside. Idiot. Longo took the points, Dewsbury took the hint and Hornets took the foot off the gas.

Dewsbury piled the pressure onto the Hornets line and on the fourth consecutive set of six - including two drop-outs - newly introduced player-coach Andy fisher decided that the time for arsing about was over to steam over from five yards to give Longo the equalising conversion.

Hornets still found time to drag the ball back into Dewsbury's 20 and, with the half ticking down, four tackles remaining and half a dozen players queuing up for passes, Agar flapped at a hurried drop-goal attempt, the ball troubling the bloke in the hot-dog van far more than the Dewsbury defence. Chance wasted.

But Hornets fans weren't panicking. They'd played into a gale force wind and all Dewsbury had managed was half a dozed scuffed grubbers and a 'plan-X' try. Given that Richard Agar carved his reputation kicking 40-20s on this ground, we expected a deluge.

On 42 minutes all looked fine. Big penalty downfield, quick passing across the line, Dave Larder coming at pace - try by the posts. Dead easy. Unfortunately, Danny Wood found the straightforward kick much harder, driving his attempt ludicrously wide.

Dewsbury replied in grand fashion. Within three minutes Jim Leatham was crashing through poor tackling to score, followed two minutes later by Adrian Flyn who performed the commendable task of running through Sean Cooper for his try. It was Leatham again minutes later - stepping through fresh-air tackles to give Dewsbury real daylight. With 15 minutes remaining Hornets had to extract the digit if they were to get anything from the game.

They scraped a try from the dropped kick off, Stevo finding Matt Calland who bumped off tacklers to score. Huffing and puffing Hornets ran in increasingly pointless circles. Some may say they were unlucky - Smith pulled back for a forward pass that looked OK from where I was, Danny Wood losing the ball over the line in a desperate attempt to score - but Dewsbury had played the more cohesive game. With less than 10 minutes remaining, Dewsbury took the ball back upfield and - from almost the same position that Agar had almost decapitated the catering staff - Jim Elston capped a great afternoon by slamming home drop goal against the wind.

And that was that. Dewsbury fans celebrated like they'd won the league, the cup and the lottery all at once and the Hornets contingent strode back to their cars shaking heads.

The post mortem? With what little slope the ground has and a gale at their backs, Hornets leaked three tries against a team that kicked them backwards time and again. Agar persisted in punting aimless down-towns down the throat of the Dewsbury fulback instead of towards the touchlines and far too many players opted to run in traffic instead of gaps.

Where Dewsbury won this was in their go-forward. Elston had an absolute field day, tracking up and down the Hornets line al afternoon and finding no end of willing straight runners. And it paid off. The relentless attrition put the Rams into positions where straight, strong and simple would - and did - work. Hornets again played no discernible football and struggled to link one pass with another.

Martin Hall needs to get this one sorted. He'll undoubtedly know who the slackers are and, hopefully, give them the necessary 'rest' in order for them to contemplate their situation.
Good player though he is, Richard Agar is draining the patience of a significant section of the Hornets support with his lacklustre passing game and ad-hoc kicking. Hornets bring nothing to the party at halfback and - where Elston ran the show, Hornets' pair simply showed him where to run.

I wrote in my preview that complacency would cost us. Hornets were complacent - and it did. Leigh must be rubbing their hands together.

PS: Sorry for the late match report - the boss has been looking this morning - Jim