Played almost throughout in teeming rain lashed by a strong wind, the conditions only worsened what was... er... one for the purists (i.e. a shocker).
The first half was - in every sense of the word - pointless. Both teams ran around and ran into each other determined, it seemed, not to score. Hornets created the few chances there were, but poor handling and worse passing meant that chances were squandered.
Hornets did have the ball down over the Swinton line once - a neat Mick Coates grubber was fumbled by Lee Hudson (ah, it all came flooding back) and Danny Wood dived in to touch down. Referee Mr J. King ("You must be Joe King!") had a mental aberration and decided that Danny was offside despite the fact he'd covered 20 yard to get to the line and touched down after Hudson had dropped the ball.
The excitement over, we all settled back into our seats and waited for the elfen-featured girl in the tight cashmere sweater to come by at half time. She did. Spectacular.
Half time nil-nil, best action - cashmere sweater.
The second half opened promisingly with both sides looking marginally more interested. Danny Wood had first go at breaking the deadlock after 44 minutes, but his penalty from 40 metres faded to the left of the posts.
Three minutes later, substitute winger Tommy Cooper showed great pace and determination to cut inside and draw the defence before finding the supporting Warren Ayres who touched down to the left of the posts. Woken from their slumber by the sound of clapping, Hornets traveling support - which came close to equaling the home support - celebrated with a chorus of "There's only two Warren Ayreses". He just needs a beard like his dad and he'll be perfect. Woody converted and at 6-nil we were asking whether we could hang on for half an hour.
We hung on for 15 minutes. Following a risible dropgoal attempt from Coates (maximum altitude about 18 inches), a rare Swinton attack following a dubious ball-stealing penalty saw Mick Nanyn scuttle into the corner leaving himself far too much to do with the conversion. 6-4 and a nailbiting last quarter was in prospect.
Hornets again had the better of the exchanges in the closing phase as Swinton were let down by clumsy handling. Three minutes from time a Swinton player was dumb enough to rake the ball in a two man tackle and Danny Wood gratefully accepted the penalty to seal the victory.
So, a win's a win. Hornets completely dominated posession throughout, but lacked the spark of creativity to turn it into points. Not sure the experiment of switching Watson and Owen worked - Watson's better where he's more involved and Owen's better coming into the line as the additional threequarter.
Andy Ireland had his best game for a while grinding out the hard yards and looking to pass at every opportunity. Danny Sculthorpe played close on 70 minutes and is still our best hope of anything happening - he gets our man of the match award, again.
Bad news was Marlon Miller's stretchering off for what looks like a serious knee injury acquired in an innocuous tackle.
As for Swinton, they look in all sorts of trouble. Vievers played a 'stand-and-pass' role, but forgot the passing bit, their pack is ineffective and their threequarter line lacks craft and pace. Says much when Phil Waring has a stand-out game.