Friday, 1 June 2018

Sunday's Coming Again: Swinton

In an eerily familiar case of deja-vu, Hornets go to Heywood Road on Sunday seeking revenge on Swinton Lions for last week’s defeat at Bloomfield Road.

Post match Lions coach Stuart Littler singled out Josh Woods and Jack Hansen for praise, but for us it was George Tyson who set the tone for Swinton’s win: his blunt instrument approach delivering a brace on the day - making it 8 tries in 11 appearances for him. A decent strike rate.

Swinton come into Sunday’s game in an unusual position: off the bottom of the table and unbeaten in their last two games, they have some momentum and, as Littler also said in his post-match interview, Sunday now becomes more important as we try and claw Dewsbury and Sheffield back into this desperate, ugly shit-fight at the bottom of the Championship (maybe he didn't use those actual words, but the sentiment is the same).

The real pisser, though is that - despite seemingly being unable to buy a win for the last two months - both Dewsbury and Sheffield (somehow) had a rush of blood at Blackpool and came up with victories. How? Not a clue, but it makes a win on Sunday - by any means possible - imperative.

However you assess it, last weekend was disappointing (to say the least). Having delivered a first half littered with errors and a second half going backwards, Hornets will need a major improvement this weekend if they are to return Swinton to the foot of the table.

In his post-match post-mortem Alan Kilshaw recognised Hornets’ poor set completion, game management and sloppy finishing as key factors that saw the game drop away from his side - particularly in a second-half that’s hard to watch.

Anyway, onward (as a previous iteration of Hornets used to say)…

Good news for Sunday is that Jonah Cunningham has joined us until the end of the season and we also have ex- Workington prop Joe Ryan and former England Academy utility back Jack Fox on-board to bolster the ranks. Welcome on-board, gentlemen.

The other positive to take into Sunday is that the Hornets fans played a blinder in Blackpool - and a repeat performance on Sunday will give the boys a much needed lift. It’s only a short trip - so fill your car and get over to Heywood Road.  A club that sings together… er… wins together (or something like that).

See you Sunday.