There are those who say that a win's a win. There are those who say a win away from home is as good a win as you can get. And there are are those who say that the Buddies National League Cup is a Mickey Mouse competition that will see virtual 'A' Teams slug out dull and meaningless matches.

Those Hornets fans at Ram Stadium would be erring towards the latter as the 'Nets eked out a narrow one point win in a game riddled with errors, poor play and, at times, sheer incompetence. But it started so well. Hornets on the board through a Danny Wood penalty after quarter of an hour - Wood playing the much vaunted stand-off role for the first time this season. And hornets went off in search of more points - in vain.

For close on twenty minutes they pounded the Dewsbury line in a series of increasingly flaccid attacks. Passed were turned back into traffic, open football was ignored in favour of one man bursts and Wayne McHugh and Casey Mayberry - quite probably the fastest two players on the field - were left kicking their heels out wide in hope of a pass.

Whilst there was no lack of honest endeavour, Hornets lacked the craft to prise open a resolute Dewsbury defence - and they paid the price. The next - and possibly the first - time Dewsbury carried the ball into Hornets 20, they showed how it should be done, stacking the right wing, throwing a pinpoint cut-out pass that missed two players and finding winger Michael Wainwright arriving with sufficient momentum to score in the corner. The conversion was hoofed wide. 4-2. And so it stayed until half time, both teams leaving the field to a ripple of apathy and both sets of supporters feeling that just one moment of lucid rugby would be enough to win it.

But it looked a long time coming. Hornets were slipshod on atttack - the ball repeatedly put to ground or missed completely in a series of comedic moments. Dewsbury seized the initiative with an hour on the clock. A penalty for offside that saw James Bunyan dispatched to the sin-bin for gross stupidity edged them further ahead - and Hornets never really looked like pulling round even a four-point deficit. And so it continued - Dewsbury threatened danger every time they carried the ball and came painfuly close to scoring on two or three occasions - one notable moment when their unmarked winger dropped a peach of an overlap pass with the line laid bare.

Hornets continued to look like thirteen blokes trying something new for a Sunday afternoon as all pretence of cohesion was thrown to the wind - progress solely dependent on the non-stop work ethic of Watson and Larder as opposed to the non-stop posing ethic of Paul Davidson.

Still, one moment of skill would win it - and it came from Dave Watson. Obviously sick of seeing Hornets forwards running head first into the ground, he picked up the ball 30 metres out and scooted along the line. Spotting Wayne McHugh out on the touchline he threw a somewhat 'flat' 20 metre pass for him to collect at full tilt and steam in at the corner. Woody was just short with the converison - cue the drop goal-fest.

First Danny Wood's was wide, then the Dewsbury scrum half fly-hacked one not just wide, but in completely the wrong direction. Hornets hauled themselves down the field for one last push and - 30 metres out and under pressure from chasers - Danny Wood slammed home the one pointer that sealed it with three and a half minutes on the clock.

Dewsbury still refused to throw in the towel, but coughed posession in a great scoring position to end their challenge. Hooter; relief; quick sing - and much shaking of heads.

Martin Hall made lots of changes to his side - Watson at full-back, no Calland, no Smith, no Rogers, Gartland coming in at 7 after an hour for an injured Tawhai, Buncey back in the fold. But there was no Damascan conversion into a lean and hungry killing machine. There was lots of huffing and puffing and, to be honest, some passages of simply awful play - it's a measure of how poor Dewsbury were that they didn't capitalise. Time and again passes were forced, fumbled and dropped. Dewsbury will watch the video of this and wonder how the hell they lost it.

There were some bright bits amongst the dull - Stevo was a colossus at prop, Dave Larder was a one man yards machine and Dave Watson tried to run into, round and through everything in his way. Casey Mayberry just edges our Man of the Match for a huge defensive effort when all else was falling apart around him.

But, hey - a win's a win. A win away from home at that. And we remain unbeaten in this competition, Mickey Mouse or not. But if we are to take it seriously - and stand any chance of restoring some pride against Shuddersfield - Hally's got a very hard week in front of him.