Sunday's Coming: The 1895 Cup

A RUM DO:  The ill-fated
Captain Morgan Trophy.

Way back in 1973, the Rugby League had a brilliant idea.

It thought it saw an 'imaginary void' in the season's already busy fixture list (back then teams played 30 games in a league season, plus the Challenge Cup, Plus the Players No.6 Cup, plus the Lancashire Cup). To fill this 'void' they concocted a meaningless knock-out competition - The Captain Morgan Trophy (sponsored by the, then, 'sophisticated' Rum brand).

The draw went like this: to the eight winners of the first round of the Yorkshire Cup, were added
the seven winners of the first round of the Lancashire cup PLUS the Lancashire team losing in the first round by the smallest margin.

To try and force a bit of cross-pennine rivalry into an already convoluted format (and to increase the chance of a Lancs v Yorks final) the Yorkshire sides and the Lancashire/Cumbrian sides (who played in the Lancashire Cup), were drawn into two 'pools' of games that kept the two groups apart in Round one.

Hornets' involvement was brief. First Division Hornets went to Second Division Workington in Round One - and lost. 22-13.

The final between Warrington and Featherstone was played on a Saturday afternoon at Salford in front of 5,000 barely interested fans. The Wire won a tryless game 4-nil. It was a metaphor for the competition.

Reports say that the competition 'failed to catch the imagination of the public, or the clubs themselves' - code for 'it was a rubbish idea that no-one wanted'. The Captain Morgan Trophy was scrapped after one season.

Fast Forward to 2019 - and the Rugby League has had a brilliant idea.

It thinks it's seen an imaginary void in the fixture list . Into this void it's crowbarred the - as yet unsponsored - 1895 Cup. And, like it's rum-flavoured predecessor, it has a beautifully convoluted format.  In round 1 eight League 1 teams played in a knock out round. Round 2 sees teams from the Championship - minus Toronto and Toulouse - chucked in with the winners from round 1.

But that's not the best of it. Not only are the RFL going to drag it out for five rounds, the final will be played at Wembley. After the Challenge Cup final.

Yes. After.

So while the Challenge Cup final's losing fans have already baled for the coach home and the winning fans have decamped for the nearest pub to celebrate, two unlucky Championship/League 1 sides will get to see their teams run round in an empty Wembley whilst the BBC packs away the cameras.

THE SWEET F.A. CUP: No prize money.
Straight from the RFL's Operating Laws

Given this, the 1895 Cup is clearly named after the anticipated attendance for the final. And if the thought of playing in an empty Wembley doesn't thrill you, it's worth noting that "... There will be no prize money in the first year, but gate receipts up to and including the semi-finals (but NOT in the final) will be shared in accordance with Challenge Cup rules." So getting to the final will ensure clubs incur a huge cost in transport and accommodation. Seems like getting canned in the semis is the best option financially.

Speaking of which...

The RFL launched this "... exciting new chance for players and supporters to taste the magic of Wembley...." (Ralph Rimmer, November 2018) without contemplating that two Championship sides might still be involved in the ACTUAL 'exciting chance for players and supporters to taste the magic of a relatively full-(ish) Wembley': Bradford and Halifax involved in an upcoming all-championship Challenge Cup Quarter Final - just 160 minutes away from Wem-ber-lee's main event.

So could Bradford and/or Halifax go all the way to the final of both?

Yeah, but... no, but...

Obviously the RFL has hacked together a beautifully labyrinthine solution. If Bradford or Halifax get to the semis of both competitions "... the 1895 Cup semi-final will be put back until the Wednesday after the Challenge Cup semi-finals (to be played on Saturday July 27) – so if the Championship club then lost their Challenge Cup semi-final, they would have a second chance to reach Wembley via the 1895 Cup."

"If a Championship club was to win their Challenge Cup semi-final, then the loser of the other 1895 Cup semi-final (to be played on Sunday July 28) would get a second chance on the Wednesday (July 31)."  Got that?

RECYCLED: The iPro Cup is back, everyone!

And what of the1895 cup itself? You'd imagine that such an exciting new competition would warrant an exciting new trophy to cement its status within the game. No such luck. Eagle-eyed Rugby League geeks will have noticed that the 1895 Cup is, in fact, the old iPro cup with a new logo stuck on it.

The iPro cup was retired after just three seasons after clubs voted to scrap it because it interfered with the domestic league season.

Sound Familiar?



Hornets travel to Batley on Sunday in Round two of the 1895 Cup. See you there.

Leaky Hornets Sunk at Barrow

Barrow 54 - Hornets 10

Hornets' slow-motion car-crash of a season reached crisis point in the shadow of the Devonshire Dock Hall submarine works. A new nadir of disappointment, with Barrow made to look like world-beaters and Jamie Dallimore given all the time and space required to torpedo Hornets' hopes of climbing off the bottom of the table.

In contrast to the weather, the game started brightly enough: Hornets riding out some early pressure, then coming up with a try on their first meaningful attack - our view partly obscured, but announced as Zac Baker (and since as Jack Johnson) - but a close range stepping effort to give Dan Abram a simple conversion. That was as good as it got.

Having gone straight up the other end, Barrow levelled the scores on 9 minutes (Puara slipping in from the back of the ruck) and took the lead on 12 minutes when Susino ran a good line off a Dallimore pass. He was followed to the line just two minutes later when the ball was worked to Cross to score by the flag. Dalimore off the touchline and the game heading for the distance at 6-18 before the first quarter was up.

But worse was to come. Hornets clung scrappily to the coat-tails of the game for 10 minutes, but the half ended in a blitz of points up the right edge as their confidence crumbled.

On 29 minutes a freak try as the ball somehow stuck to Raiders winger Amean, capitalising on his good fortune to send Spedding in at the corner.

Hornets surfaced briefly on the half hour when they moved the ball to send Brandon Wood in, but it was cold comfort for the traveling fans. Barrow's response, an 8 minute hat-trick for Amean: fastest to react to a Dallimore kick into the in goal; striding in untouched from close range; then a real sickener as he intercepted a shocking first-tackle pass to go 90 metres untouched.

Half-time 42-10. Just awful.

In contrast, the second half was more attritional. Barrow happy to let Hornets jab flaccidly at their defence for 20 minutes before going downfield to score twice in their only two second-half attacks, both just past the hour mark. First Mossop and Jono Smith combining to send Ritson through a huge hole, then Dallimore pushing a kick behind a static defence for Toal to score Barrow's ninth try of the afternoon. Dallimore landing his ninth kick from nine for 54-10.

At this point, we'd usually sieve the rubble for some meagre positives - but unless you count lunch, there aren't any, really.

From a supporters' point of view, this was a tough one to take. It would have been hard to envisage such a gulf between two sides separated by only a point at start of play.  As it is, this result hauled Barrow out of the relegation zone and leaves Hornets stranded at the foot of the table.

To add insult to injury, Swinton stole a last minute win and now look out of reach in 10th. The challenge now becomes 'find two more wins than Widnes and Barrow'.

At least there's some respite next week as we head to Batley to play in the utterly pointless 1895 cup.

Sunday's Coming: Barrow

BARROW: a graveyard, earlier today.

Welcome to the first game of the second half of the season - and we head for Barrow: the graveyard of so many hopes over the years.

If you're seeking any consolation from last Saturday's emotional trauma (and believe us, the pickings are transparently thin), Hornets did manage an exceptional 40 minutes: while - on Sunday - Barrow were roundly pounded by an effective, if unexciting, Sheffield Eagles.

Barrow lost 30-18, but the outcome was given the veneer of a contest by two Barrow tries in the last five minutes, long after the Eagles had clocked-off for the day. Interestingly, The Raiders were ahead 8-6 at the break - Sheffield piling in four tries in the third quarter (three of them in six minutes) to take the game away from Paul Crarey's side. Speaking in the NW Evening Mail Crarey said: “We probably played for 55-60 minutes, but that 20 minute block is letting us down." And he felt that the scoreline wasn't reflective of the effort his side put in: "There was a lot of effort put into today’s game and the scoreline didn’t really reflect that," he said. Wise words, mate.

Looking ahead to this week's encounter Crarey said: “Rochdale showed a big improvement at the Bash and they have improved. I think they put the cue in the rack at half time and, in this division, you can’t afford to do that. We know how important (Sunday's) game is and Matt Calland is a good coach and will have them well prepared.”

Certainly, both ours and Barrow's performances at the Summer Bash leave both sides in search of redemption this week - and both sides will see this as a potential springboard for the back-half of the season.

Indeed, the challenge remains the same - be better than Swinton: a challenge now rendered more difficult than it ever was. The mathematics, though are simple: Hornets now need to gain five more points than Swinton in the 14 games remaining to reel them in. Three more wins than them, effectively. A task complicated by the fact that Swinton host Dewsbury on Sunday - sitting one place and one point above them.

Yes, we know that Widnes sit amidst the back-runners in this pack on 4 points, but with 8 wins already this term, you have to assume that, having already shrugged off their -12-point punishment, they'll creep back up the table as we head for September.

Barrow sit next to bottom on three points - and haven't taken a single point since February. Their only win of the season came in Round 1: a 22-18 win at Batley. Their only other point came in Round 4 with a 20-all home draw with Dewsbury. Their first game of March was a 20-8 defeat - at Spotland. It's been downhill for both clubs since - especially Barrow was they'e gone even longer than us without a win.

Barrow's form has been a bit of a mystery to us, as they have a side containing some redoubtable talent: Lewis Charnock, Tee Ritson, Jarrod Stack, Jamie Dallimore, Deon Cross and Jono Smith. And don't forget Papua New Guinean trio Stargroth Amean, Wartovo Puara Jr and Willie Minoga - all signed from Queensland Cup side SP Hunters. There's something clearly failing to click at Craven Park. Let's hope it continues for another week at least...

Paul Crarey does have Martin Aspinwall and Dan Toal back in his side after lengthy lay-offs - and he has identified areas for improvement: “If we could just control the game for longer periods, instead of pressing the self-destruct button by giving the ball away 30 metres from our line or trying to score with every set, or not playing the ball correctly and giving penalties away. It’s about being patient and getting to the back end of kicks and then getting some repeat sets.”

We read that as an opportunity to pressurise them into making poor decisions. Indeed, it was a high level of defensive pressure that harried Swinton into errors in the first half last weekend - and in tight games you need all the scraps you can feed on.

Beyond the half-time brew at Blackpool, it's all a bit of a lamentable blur - but it underpins the scale of the task in hand for Matt Calland and his coaching team. Certainly losing is a bad habit to break, and Hornets haven't really been in the position of locking down a game this season.

But we travel in hope that the second half of the season will be an improvement on the first. So let's shed that particular skin and go again. See you at Craven Park.

All Aboard The Emotional Rollercoaster

Hornets 30 - Swinton 40

This was a dizzying, disorientating defeat that left Hornets' sizeable and noisy support reeling in the aftermath. Having crackled with invention and ideas before the break, Hornets spent the second 40 minutes running through treacle - whereas Swinton found their feet, gained momentum and sped away, leaving Hornets fans with a collective 1,000 yard stare; brains whirring in disbelief.

Swinton started the brighter, ahead after just five minutes when they lofted a kick up Hornets right edge for Butt to out-jump Shaun Ainscough; Smith converting. Hornets' response was swift: Luis Johnson taking the ball to the Lions' line, Scott Moore producing a pinpoint pass to Brandon Wood who crashed in to score. Dan Abram the first of a perfect afternoon with the boot.

Hornets went straight back on the attack, fuelling their progress by feeding off Swinton's escalating error-count. Indeed, they looked certain to extend their lead when Shan Ainscough broke up the right with support in his wake. Ainscough opted for the inside pass to James Worthington, but  - somehow - the centre fumbled the ball with the fans already on their feet.

Two minutes later, Hornets attacked the same spot, this time Dan Abram stepped off his right to leave defenders clutching at air, slipping Dec Kay in by the posts. Abram the two, and Hornets looking good value for the 12-6 lead.

But Hornets were hit by an almost immediate sucker punch: some frankly awful defending up the right channel ushering Halton almost 40 metres to score: 12-10

On the half hour, Shain Ainscough reciprocated - exposing Swinton's defensive frailties up the same edge to dive in for the 100th try of his career. Dan Abram the two off the whitewash and Hornets' supporters in fine voice.

With the game approaching half-time, Harvey Livett capitalised on a Swinton error to kick the ball into the in-goal and win the foot-race to touch down. Abram the extras: Hornets comfortably in-charge at 24-10.

The talk in the stands was that Hornets had to score first after the break to quell any threat of a Swinton comeback. As it was, Swinton scored within a minute of the restart (Ashton up Hornets' left channel).

Hornets looked to have steadied the ship four minutes later when Shaun Aisncough grabbed his second to extend Hornets lead to 30-14. But 36 hours later, we're still processing what happened next...

Swinton found an extra gear - and Hornets, simply, couldn't go with them. Just ahead of the hour, Swinton produced a double-punch combination: back-to-back tries from Lloyd and Hansen - the latter after the defence failed to snuff-out a kick going nowhere. Hornets clung to the ropes for 13 minutes.

Then again two tries in two minutes. This time Fairclough and Paisley crossing through a flat-footed defence - the latter this time a walk-in off a Dec Kay Fumble. With 14 minutes remaining, Swinton held a Lazarus-like lead at 30-34.

Hornets hauled themselves off the canvas to go in search of redemption, but Swinton were resolute. As time ticked down, all it needed was was one chance. One chance...

It came in the 75th minute when Hornets were awarded a penalty within striking distance of the Lions' line. Like a punch-drunk boxer running on muscle-memory Hornets probed for an opening, but that one last swing proved fateful. With Swinton short on numbers up the right, Harvey Livett launched a huge cut-out pass towards Brandon Wood - only for Ashton to snatch the ball from the air and run 90 metres to administer the coup-de grace. Smith finally found his kicking boots to seal the deal at 30-40.

Whilst the post-mortem on this one will be disturbing and complex, it requires the answer to a single question: how can a team that played with so much vigour and dynamism before the break fall apart so badly?

36 hours on, we still don't have a clue.

Saturday's Coming: Swinton Lions at the Summer Bash

WELCOME TO BLACKPOOL: Time for Hornets to kick arse beside the seaside. 

(Photograph: Dougie Wallace from 'Stags, Hens and Bunnies: A Blackpool Story')

It's apt that the Summer Bash at Blackpool comes at the mid-point of the season, because this year's game agains fellow cellar dwellers Swinton provides the point around which our season could tip one of two ways.

Win and we could leapfrog Barrow, off the bottom of the competition (assuming the Raiders lose in Blackpool to Sheffield) and within points difference of Swinton, over whom we have a game in hand (admittedly, it is a points difference of 136!).

Lose and Swinton head off into the middle distance on 6 points, leaving Hornets looking for three more wins than the Lions in the back half of the season to overhaul them.

It is - literally - a pivotal game.

If last month's meltdown at Heywood Road was this season's nadir, Saturday at Bloomfield Road provides an opportunity for redemption and renewed optimism.

The remainder of the Championship season has effectively been boiled down to a three-way shoot-out involving Hornets, Swinton and Barrow. The aim? Finish top of this triumvirate of underachievement. A task made even more interesting by the trip to Barrow the week after Blackpool. Indeed, if you needed further proof of the importance of the next two weeks, Swinton's only two wins of this campaign came against Hornets - and at Barrow.

Everyone will know by now that Hornets v Swinton has been bumped back to a 3.30 kick off so that the weekend can open with a game that no-one's really interested in (T'onto v TOXIIIC) and which should guarantee an empty stadium for the cameras.

The new kick-off time means that Hornets' game now clashes with Catalan v Wigan at the Nou Camp in Barcelona. It also means that, in order to accommodate Dragons v The Pies, our game has been moved from Sky's mainstream sports channels, now hidden away behind the red-button. Those of you hoping to record our game will have to set your boxes for the replay at 10pm on Sky Sports Arena. I'm glad they've told us that now - because that would have been a very tricky sell to sponsors six months ago.

Swinton prepare for Saturday's game with a raft of injuries. Forwards Will Hope, Ben Austin and Jamie Acton have been joined by Lewis Hatton who has had surgery on a finger injury and will be out for six weeks. Swinton's depleted pack will feature former Hornets Gavin Bennion and Billy Brickhill. Michael Ratu is unlikely to play.

Hornets come into this game needing a win like oxygen - and the performance against York last weekend shows clear signs of improvement. Indeed, we reckon it's the closest we've got to York for quite a while, given their formidable bogey-team status. The inclusion of the four recent acquisitions looked pretty seamless and the spine of the team looked pretty solid (we like Ben Moores at Loose forward as he poses a running threat).

So we travel in hope, at least. Saturday gives the whole club a chance to regain some equilibrium after a challenging first half of the season. It's certainly a great opportunity for the fans to get together, make some noise and enjoy the event.

If you're still considering your options for Saturday, we urge you to get over to Bloomfield Road - even if it's just for our game. Tickets are still available from the club office - and everyone Hornets sells helps offset the costs incurred in participating in the Summer Bash.

So do yourself and the club a favour: get over to Blackpool and bring your singing voice. 'Kiss-me-quick' hats are optional. See you there.

Hornets Put In A Knight-Shift

Hornets 18 - York 24

There's not doubt that the outcome of this game feels like a corner turned. Ignore the fact that York clung on for a win that served to underline their credentials as an unconvincing third-placed outfit - forced into scrapping and scrambling by a patched-up Hornets side with its cracks grouted by loanees, trialists and players filling-in out of position.

While the high-flying Knights foundered and flailed (held, yet again, to a single second half try), Hornets looked organised, energised and workmanlike.

Hornets started with a bang: two Dan Abram 40/20s in the opening exchanges putting the visitors under early pressure, but it was the Knights who took the lead against the early run of play: working the ball tidily around the middle of a retreating defence for Marsh to score under the black dot, then full-back Bass making the extra man on a looping run from the back of the scrum for 0-10 after 16 minutes. York now with some momentum.

They capitalised on the quarter mark when Whiteley broke up the guts of the Hornets defence to be reeled in by Jack Johnson. But Hornets coughed-up a sloppy penalty on next play and York smuggled the ball wide for the otherwise hapless Mazive to find space by the flag.

Hornets continued to drive forward and were rewarded for their persistence on the half hour mark when a neat dink into the in-goal caught defenders napping, Lewis Sheridan quickest to react and get a hand on the ball. 6-14.

Having clawed their way back into the game, Hornets switched off with seconds of the half remaining: Bass reprising his extra-man role to score a carbon copy try to send the visitors in 6-18 up at the break.

The second half began with a flurry: Hornets applying pressure from a steepling Sheridan bomb, York contributing a knock-on. From the resulting play Joe Ryan was forced dead-in-goal to let York off the hook. Jack Johnson was then held-up in goal, but Hornets cane up with a poor last tackle option.

After 10 minutes of one-way traffic the pressure finally told: Liam Carberry hitting a flat-pass from acting half to crash through defenders and score. Abram the two and Hornets back in the race at 12-18.

Almost immediately, York produced a response: Blagbrough in off a short-pass after Robinson had stepped his way through the middle of the Hornets defence. 12-24: Hornets now in a 20 minute run chase. York's response? Go where they're comfortable - suck the daylight out of the game and turn it into a scrappy mess; happy to concede penalties and knock-ons to dissipate any possible momentum.

But Hornets strove to play what little lucid football remained. As the game drew into its closing phase, Hornets shipped the ball wide to Brandon Wood who showed great strength and determination to bypass Mazive and - somehow - plant the ball in the corner. Dan Abram a quality kick from the touchline and Hornets within range of a point at 18-24.

With 10 minutes remaining Hornets threw the kitchen sink at a York side happy to rope-a-dope their way to the final hooter. Their desire to park the bus almost backfired on 75 minutes when Dan Abram chased his own 50 metre downtown kick into the in-goal where Slater took an age to make his mind up: Abram a finger-tip away from the touch-down. York happy to concede a drop-out and stagger to victory.

Indeed, Hornets were the better side for long tracts of this game: enthusiastic, hard-working - enterprising, even. Certainly they looked organised and committed to the cause, which is a noticeable improvement.

As for York, if this is how good you have to be to be third in this competition, we can go into the second half of the season with at least some optimism. And with Swinton - at Blackpool - just round the corner, we can at least travel in hope.

Sunday's Coming: York City Knights

We have good news and bad news.

The good news is that we have it on excellent authority that the posts are already up for Sunday's visit of York City Knights. So well done to the currently depleted Spotland Ground Staff as it was a bit breezy earlier in the week.

The bad news is that - since the Stadium debacle back in March - the RFL's darlings on this side of the pond have been on a relentless run of form that has taken them to fifth in the table with eight wins from 12 games. What caught our eye is that they've played eight of those 12 games at home - with only two of those being defeats, both to teams above them in the table (Toronto and Sheffield).
York's last three defeats have all come away from home.

Apart from the the tonking of Barrow (56-nil!) and a 22 point winning margin over Halifax, this has all the hallmarks of a team that gets the job done (they have the second smallest positive points difference in the competition). Indeed, in the last month they have bookended a narrow four-point loss in Toulouse with wins over Widnes and Batley, by seven and four points respectively. So staying in the arm-wrestle is absolutely key to competing with James Ford's side.

This was evident last week when York almost came unstuck against Batley, as the Bulldogs ramped up their second-half defensive effort to get within a score of nicking the game. Leading comfortably by 22-10 at half time, York found Batley's high-intensity approach after the break difficult to manage, the visitors restricting the Knights to a single second-half try as they chipped away at the margin, but were beaten by the clock.

Having had a look at the highlights, Batley capitalised on York's flaky right edge, isolating Judah Mazive on three occasions to score.

In the last week, Ford has been quoted in York's local press as asking for 'more support' from his board if his side are to sustain their early season form. He wants investment in his squad and in his side's training 'environment'. But his immediate concern is the injury crisis that has his squad down to the bare bones. He said: "We're going to struggle to field 17 players next week. We picked up another couple of injuries (against Batley)".

Hornets come into the game on the back of an all-too familiar pumping by Featherstone Rovers - which will, no-doubt, have given Matt Calland a few extra things to consider - though we do hear on the grape-vine that local reinforcements are on the way.

More than anything, though, the club needs a confidence-boosting performance - and instilling belief is the biggest coaching challenge of all. See you Sunday.

Plus ça change...

Hornets 10 - Featherstone 56

So, anything happen while we were away? Other than the departure of Carl Forster and the appointment of 'the fans' choice' Matt Calland as his replacement?


Chucked in at the deep-end with the game against his former club Featherstone looming, Calland only had a couple of sessions with the squad before getting a fairly abrupt assessment of the scale of the task in hand.

In a championship that's becoming increasingly stretched between full-time and part-time, haves and have-nots, Fev have had - by their standards - a pretty ordinary season thus far. They arrived at Spotland sitting in 7th with a six-and-six record, but boarded the bus home having demonstrated the clear existence of two parallel championships within the one competition: Hornets reduced to chasing shadows at times as the visitors rammed home ten-tries in a one-sided contest.

Those anticipating some sort of messianic miracle were instantly disappointed: Hornets started the game with a knock-on and 45 seconds later Rovers rake King slumped in from acting half. Chisholm added the extras and Fev were up and running.

With the lion's share of the early possession, Featherstone added to their early score with a quick-fire double whammy: Harrison hitting a short-ball to score under the black-dot on 10 minutes, followed by Chisholm in the same spot after a prestidigitatious exchange of passes up the guts of a sloppy defence. Chisholm converting both and Hornets 18-nil down with 12 minutes gone.

Hornets rallied briefly around the quarter-mark when a rare attack saw the ball shifted wide for Shaun Ainscough to score by the flag for 4-18

There was brief respite as the game became scrappy, which suited Hornets. But when Featherstone found themselves with space to work off a 25th minute penalty, quick-hands worked the ball to Carey who scored out wide.

Hornets ended the half with their best spell of pressure, forcing a drop-out, but getting snagged in possession on the last tackle - a feat they repeated just four minutes later.

The sides retired to the sheds at a modest 4-22.

Hornets started the second-half brightly: Luis Johnson held-up in-goal. But the pressure was short-lived as Featherstone again produced a three-minute two-punch combination that sucked the air out of the contest: Hardcastle with a walk-in through a flat-footed defence, Cooper under the sticks after another huge break up the heart of the Hornets defence. Chisholm on-target and, at 4-34 with half an hour remaining, it became a question of 'how many'?

Featherstone added another double either side of the hour: Carey in the corner after a sweeping move that had Hornets clutching air, then Cooper straight through the middle from 25 metres. Too easy: 4-44.

With 10 minutes remaining Hornets centre Ben Morris stole the ball from a bemused Davis to score (Abram the two) - but Featherstone produced yet another rapid brace: Makatoa in off a short-ball, Golding from close range gliding through a defence gone AWOL. Chisholm on target to give Featherstone a rudimentary 10-56 win.

From a Hornets supporters point of view, this was the difficult first step on a journey of rehabilitation as the new coaching team seeks to reignite what looks increasingly like a side with a confidence crisis.

In the media surrounding Calland's appointment he said that coaching Hornets is 'the job he always wanted'. And supporters now have the coach they always believed could improve Hornets' fortunes.  The test for both starts here.