As it was, Hornets struck the right balance and overcame stubborn resistance at Cougar Park to eventually ease away from Keighley.

The Cougars were first on the scoreboard from an early penalty (Hornets again caned 11-5 in the penalty count), but Radney Bowker’s neat pass slotted Gareth price in after 15 minutes to put Hornets in front.

Keighley then produced their move of the game; a short ball found Harvey running a good angle into space, found Foster who fed Jackson in at the corner. Hornets responded almost immediately; Braddish slipping through a napping defence after 24 minutes.

Just past the half hour came a moment of magic from Radney Bowker; his one handed reverse pass smuggled out of the tackle to Gorski who strode in to score.

With the half time hooter imminent, Hornets attacked again; a delicate Braddish grubber causing all sorts of panic; the ball mis-hacked across the Keighley in-goal; Dave Alstead barely believing his luck as it fell at his feet for him to touch down.

Half time 24-6 to Hornets - and bloody hell it was cold.

Keighley started the second half with a shuddering bang; Jason Clegg steamrollering in from less than a foot after two minutes.

Playing up the slope, Hornets worked good field position from the next possession and Bowker found Alstead linking with the attack to score. Two minutes later, from much the same field position, Phil Farrell scooted across the line; darting through a static defence from five metres and planting the ball by the left hand post.

But Keighley stuck at their task and, on 56 minutes, Harvey’s searching pass found Gardner with ample room to dive in at the corner.

As Bobbie gave his whole 22 man squad some much needed gametime, the final quarter was a little disjointed, but Hornets did manage a further three well taken tries from Andy Gorski, Richard Varkulis and Chris Giles to run out 50-18 winners.

The core of what we might expect to be Bobbie’s first 13 bossed this game completely. In particular, Bowker produced a full array of penetrating passes (and backed them up with a big defensive effort); the main beneficiary was non-stop Andy Gorski, who buzzes like a dynamo at the heart of this team.

The biggest disappointment of the day (apart from losing the feeling in my fingers) was the performance of referee Ronnie Laughton. Hornets again were panned 2:1 in the penalty count: twice pulled for offside as play progressed 30 metres away in the opposite direction from the transgression.

On reflection, Bobbie was relatively pleased, but said: “I’ll be having a look at the video to see how we conceded 18 points.”