Indeed, the deadlock of the opening 20 minutes was only broken by a Jamie Bloem penalty - but it was Bloem again, turning up on the end of a wide Smith pass, who notched the first try.

Hornets reduced the deficit with a Lee Birdseye penalty and - after Richard Varkulis had caused havoc in the Halifax defence with a barraging run - he added another for offside. 4-6.

With neither side creating much in attack, Bloem stretched ‘fax’s lead after Costello was penalised for playing the ball incorrectly. And, with half time approaching, Halifax out half Grix threaded Danny Arnold through some static defence; Bloem converted and Hornets went in 4-14 down.

As in the first half, the opening 20 minutes was a strongarm battle with defences on top. With both sides probing for an opening, it was Hornets who found the combination first - a short, sharp pass from the industrious Janan Billings found Varkulis arriving at speed and he shrugged off tacklers to score out wide. Birdseye superbly added the extras and Hornets were back in it at 10-14.

But it was Halifax that Halifax briefly found their rhythm. First Arnold stepped through to score, then Roper added a penalty - then Weisner underlined the fact that Halifax weren’t all that sure about this one by adding a drop goal (which drew derision and cries of ‘Boring’ from the home supporters). But the 13 point cushion meant that Hornets had to score three times - and with ten minutes remaining they turned concerted pressure into points.

On the last tackle there appeared to be nothing on for Hornets - until the ball reached Sam Butterworth, who set off on a searching cross-field run. He found Varkulis again who steamed in wide-out.

Hornets nine-points adrift and gaining momentum. The next set of six, Hornets had worked their way close to the Halifax line. Then Sam Butterworth tried to regain his feet from the tackle having already placed the ball on the floor. Russell Smith gave the penalty; Halifax hoofed the ball 60 metres downfield and, while Hornets were regrouping in defence, Norman took advantage and stepped through to seal the game. Devastating.

As if the scoreline didn’t flatter Halifax enough, Smith gave Hornets a penalty right on the hooter. Hornets elected to run - and pushed their luck: the ball freakishly ended up in the hands of Marns who won the footrace to the corner.

Corcoran converted: 14-33.

But for two rushes of blood in the last ten minutes, the scoreline might’ve more accurately reflected the way this game went. And if Hornets had taken the three good chances they created out wide - who knows how this would have gone?

Ultimately, Tony Anderson breathes a sigh of relief and Bobbie Goulding is left looking for positives: “There were absolutely loads there for us”, he said. “The lads have shown great effort & enthusiasm and the defence is starting to get there. We could have been a bit smarter with the ball, but that will come.”

“Fair play to Halifax, they’ve stuck to their guns. I don’t think they did that much special, but they out-smarted us in the end.”

Indeed, at key moments, it was Hornets naivity that let them down - forcing passes and not playing the ball properly: basics that you should only really cock-up once to learn that good sides will capitalise.

But Goulding does seem to have welded together a committed, no-nonsense side that works hard and gives its all. On that basis alone, Hornets have a great foundation to build on. Hornets undoubtedly have some way to go before they’re the finished article.

The question is, though, how much better can Halifax get?