It wasn't so much that the Bulldogs are a team of showboating world beaters; more that they did the basics very well while Hornets prodded impotently away like a desperate man in need of viagra.

Indeed, it was a performance that showed little promise of penetration of any sort as Hornets huffed and puffed around the Batley 20 metre zone with nothing to show for their efforts.

Hornets gameplan was evident from the off. Playing up the hill, Hornets looked determined to play Batley under their own posts; but having got them there, they soon ran out of ideas. With the line crying out for some expansive football, Hornets repeatedly turned the ball up the crowded short side, where their hosts were happy to soak up the pressure and neuter Hornets' few options.

After 10 minutes, Batley finaly dug themselves out of their half after Hornets coughed the ball. Stokes set up good field position and Boothroyd found bustling prop McLoughlin arriving with determined pace; crashing through tackles from 5 metres for a simple, but well executed try.

Hornets dragged themselves back up the hill, but couldn't turn pressure into points. For ten minutes Hornets jabbed and poked at the edges of the Bulldogs' defence, but- again - got lost up the blind side. Conversely, Batley swept 70 metres from an excellent 40/20 by Toohey and on the next set Richardson smuggled the ball out of the back of a tackle and Duffy's short pass posted Lingard through a huge hole in the Hornets defence. Jones converted: 10-nil.

Hornets stuck rigidly to the gameplan: One out drives to shunt Batley backwards; hurried passes through the narrow outside channel and flaccid punts into the in-goal. It was hard to watch.

Batley, on the other hand, patiently shipped the ball up and down the line in search of an opening and on the half hour Richardson's peach of a cut-out pass on the last tackle shoehorned Clemie in at the corner.

14-nil: and Hornets' chances - much like their opponents - were going downhill fast.

By now, the sizeable travelling support were desperate to see the ball moved wide to pace-man Chris Giles who'd gone half an hour without a touch of the ball. But Hornets persisted in turning the ball inside to no avail. But when called on to make a contribution, Giles showed his class.

Forcing yet another pass, Hornets put the ball to ground on the Batley 20 metre line; Bulldogs' out-half Jones gathered and set off for the posts with 80 metres of open field ahead of him; Giles was first to react and set off in pursuit - a footrace with Batley's Stokes for who got to Jones first. Giles' lunge brought Jones to ground, but the ball was shipped to the supporting Stokes who accelerated away down the slope; Giles set off, again, in pursuit - and as Stokes was picking his spot in the right hand corner, Giles pulled off an amazing last ditch tackle, hauling Stokes into touch. Fantastic defence.

From the scrum, Giles picked a hole in the Batley line and made good ground. Great vision found Lee Doran on his shoulder and he powered 50 metres up the slope to give Hornets a foothold in the game as the hooter sounded. King converted; half time 14-6.

The second half began much like the first. Hornets hurling themselves lemming-like onto the Batley defence. Again, the home side driving back upfield - and Giles again called on to perform heroics as he snuffed out a blind-side scrum move with a man and ball tackle on Lyndsey.

Ten minutes in, it was deja vu. Batley taking the ball close, McLoughlin crashing onto a short ball to score.

With Hornets looking inceasingly unlikely to create any meaningful threat, Batley shut up shop. For 20 minutes both sides were locked in a mid-field scramble, Hornets running the gameplan to the letter.

Batley bided their time. And when they won a scrum 30 metres from the Hornets line, they showed how to work the blind side: some swift hands in traffic setting up a shoo-in for Lythe. Jones added the extras and a penalty five minutes later for good measure. 26-6. Hornets a shambles.

With the game ebbing away, Hornets decided to cast off the shackles; keeping the ball alive for McConnell to score the 'send 'em home pissed off' try with 2 minutes remaining.

The fact that Hornets' fans had waited 78 minutes to see any semblance of cohesive football made for little consolation.

In the aftermath, Darren Abram said: "We didn't compete - and when that happens you don't deserve to win."

And he is, sadly, correct on both counts.