Nine lives; skin of your teeth; get out of jail free - call it what you want, but Hornets performed a less than convincing second half escape act against a Hunslet side that held the upper hand in desire and enthusiasm for long periods.

The signs were bad as early as the second minute. Before Hornets had even touched the ball, Hunslet had returned the kick off with a monster 40-20 and loped in for the softest of tries. Hawks supporters rubbed their eyes in disbelief. So did the sizeable Hornets contingent in the 637 crowd who had their hopes of improvement falsely raised after 15 minutes - Tawhai hoisting a huge bomb; the Hunslet winger flapping at thin air; Damian Ball, making his most telling contribution of the afternoon, gathering to score. Woody converting.

But the revival never happened. Time and again Hunslet - marshalled superbly around the field by stand-off Jermaine Coleman - tore through Hornets' lazy tackling. First Gareth Naylor backing up a huge last tackle break from the impressive Lee Bargate to score from 40 metres after 20 minutes, followed by a similar effort from well within their own half five minutes later, Paul Seal taking the final pass from Chris Ross.

Hunslet supporters celebrated, Hornets supporters sat in stunned amazement and, as the teams left the field at half time at 16-6, the popular line was that this was where Martin Hall really shows us what he's made of.

Whatever was said in the sheds at half time, it worked. Hornets took the initiative from the whistle. Agar kicked Hunslet back deep into their own territory, Hornets regained posession and a very tidy pass from Matt Long put Sean Cooper in at the corner. Woody slotted the conversion and Hornets looked to be back in the game.

Where Hornets had played a completely one dimensional game in the first half, they ran through the repertoire in the first 20 of the second half. Agar mixed it up with a variety of bombs and pinpoint kicks - Matt Calland collecting one to the corner to crash in, Smith diving in on a teasing lob behind the line ten minutes later and - courtesy of some superb goal kicking by Woody - Hornets were 22-16 to the good. Amazing.

But Hunslet continued to push and probe. A superb downtown kick from Coleman found Hornets flat in defence and in all sorts of trouble. Cooper gained valuable yards on the chasing three quarters and did just enough to snaffle the ball dead. Referee Mr Nicholson showed his complete disregard for events on the field to award Hornets a penalty for a Hunslet offside that only he saw. So, instead of a goal-line drop out, Hornets had a clearing touch kick and the danger was past.

With ten minutes remaining Tawhai pushed another challenging kick behind the Hunslet defence for Mayberry to gather and score. And just as the Hornets supporters exhaled in relief, Hunslet winger Powell found space on the end of a ridiculous overlap to dive in at the flag. Fortunately, Ross came up short with the boot and Hornets were home and hosed.

But it was a quite awful game. Hornets haven't had as bad a first half since we got pulverised at Leigh earlier in the year. The second half showed that, once you start mixing up the attacking options, you'll gain dividends - but why should they have to go to the very edge of tossing the game away before they start playing?

Again, the players in key positions failed to perform. Tawhai pulled two good tackles and executed two good kicks, but didn't once challenge the Hunslet defence with the ball in his hands. Whether Agar was too busy directing manoeuvres inthe first half to put Hunslet under pressure I don't know, but playing his more natural kicking-oriented game in the second half he looked more fluid, comfortable and dangerous. Damian Ball spent the whole afternoon too embroiled in heavy traffic to have an impact and Paul Smith spent the whole afternoon looking for big forwards to amble into.

In analysis, it was poor show by any account. Martin Hall must be tearing his hair out over this one and I pity him having to sit through this tripe again on video. Yes I know Hunslet got amongst us and played well above themselves, but there are far better teams waiting for us out there and we can't afford the luxury of stepping it up a gear for 20 minutes to salvage a poor start against them.

So where do we - and Hally - go from here. Any other year two wins from two starts would be a good return, but we've failed to impress. The more the team plays together, the better it will get, but players in key positions seem uncertain of their roles at the moment and it's up to them to play to their potential. Turning up doesn't guarantee you a win - whatever the opposition - and with the quality we have waiting in the wings, one or two players could already be in contention in the next week or two.

So we look for positives from the Hunslet game. In previous years, Hornets teams losing 16-6 at half time would have gone on to lose 30-6. That we have the ability and character to redress a 10 point deficit and go on to win is commendable. And it shows that we have a coach who can pinpoint the problems and sort them out - this was a big test for Hally and he came through admirably.

Final word goes to Hunslet coach Roy Sampson. He's quoted as saying, "We've shown tremendous spirit... there won't be many teams push Rochdale as close as we did this year."

Let's hope you're right Roy.