To be sure, there was only one team on show playing any football, but this morning's papers will show Dull KR with the two points.

And dull it was. Two penalties to the Robins in the first 15 minutes were the only way they could rouse the scoreboard operator from his slumbers On 20 minutes Hornets played the first fluid football of the afternoon - Iain Higgins punching a huge hole in the Rovers defence, a neat inside pass round the fullback to Smith who sprinted away certain to score - only for the referee to misinterpret the laws of parallax and call a forward pass.

Minutes Later, Higgins turned villain as another sweeping break through the Rovers ranks saw him on the end of a move involving Bunyan and Smith. Having stood up the fullback three to one, Higgins knocked on and a dead cert went begging. Hornets supporters held heads in hands, Rovers fans stood in silence, obviously stunned by the fact that at least one side wanted to throw the ball around a bit.

Typically, on the next trip to the Hornets 20 metre zone, Rovers' full-back Godfrey scooped home a drop goal. 5-0 - strong coffees all round and Warren Ayres awake enough to slot home a penalty for - strangely enough - lying on in the tackle. 5-2.

Just past the half hour, Hornets turned their pressure into points. The break from Smith, the support from Owen and a neat inside ball to Calland who scored under the posts. Ayres converting, Hornets deservedly in front at the break 5-8.

Dull KR began the second half as they finished the first - with a penalty. Back within a point and they hadn't had a sniff of the whitewash.

Hornets however did - capitalising on a Rovers knock-on, Joe Berry crashing in to score from the resulting set of six. Ayres, amazingly, missed a simple conversion.

Just past the hour, Rovers scored their only try of the day - a scrappy last tackle one yard flop in for fading has-been Nick Pinkney (his only contribution of the afternoon). 12-11.

Having settled for their try tally for the afternoon, Dull KR proceeded to setup drop goal positions at every opportunity - and it worked. First Cain then Dorahy - who had a 24 carat stinker in truth. But it was enough. In the remaining four minutes, the Robins did just enough to withstand the Hornets' increasingly desperate attacks - and when the hooter sounded, the home fans celebrated like they'd won the cup (which they did once, when they were good).

Hornets left the field to the appreciative applause of their supporters - grateful that at least their team had had a go at playing some rugby. But it still felt like being mugged.

The price Hornets paid for trying to play rugby on this tight pitch was an unforced error count that must have had Martin Hall pulling his hair out. More times than I care to remember, Hornets coughed possession under no pressure on the first or second tackle.

It's a back-handed compliment to how far our club's come that the home fans celebrated so fervently over this narrow and unattractive win. And, given that the Robins were once probably the finest club side in the world, it says something that they're delighted with a narrow win over the might of Rochdale Hornets - a 'top side' as Gary Wilkinson called us. Well, everything's relative.