Hornets 34 Whitehaven 24 : Jim had this to sayIt had to happen. One of the teams vying for a top eight place had to come to Spotland and take it seriously. Whitehaven gave Hornets a mighty scare, exploiting to the full the areas of our game we've spotted recently as shoddy, slack or lacking.
But after 20 minutes, there was little sign of the bedwetting finish to come. Hornets left the grid in top gear. Four minutes in, Hornets worked a neat scrum move with Danny Sculthorpe lining up at five-eighth, dummy running to create the space for Danny Wood to find Paul Owen making up the extra centre. His neat outside pass found Marlon Billy at speed and the outcome was satisfactorily obvious.
Three minutes later, Hornets repeated the neat passing on the other flank. A pinpoint pass from Scully, good work from James Bunyan, suckng in defenders and smuggling the ball out to Sean Cooper to score.
After quarter of an hour, Scully turned finisher as a 'Plan X' move saw him crash in from the acting half pass from Stevo. 16-0, Hornets were cruising. But this Whitehaven side don't cave in. Modelled in the never-say-die image of their coach Paul Cullen, they got their game together and started playing some compact, neat football.
The momentum was provided by tricky no. 6 Rob Purdham who - at a scrum following a quite stupid knock-on mix up involving Bunyan, Cooper and Sculthorpe - spotted a huge hole outside Danny Wood and skated in to score untouched. He followed his conversion with a simple penalty minutes later and at 16-8, 'Haven were back in the chase.
But with the clock running down, Latham Tawhai opted to move the ball on the last tackle. The ball passed through Bunyan and Buck Rogers' hands to Marlon Billy who crashed in at the corner. At 22-8 Hornets looked to be back in control, but Whitehaven had other ideas.
Having seen 'Haven at Chorley last month, I was aware of what effect a Paul Cullen rocket up the arse at half time can have. Whitehaven came out for the second half a rejuvenated side. Nifty hooker Aaron Lester began scooting across the line looking for gaps and straight runners to fill them - Hornets stood off him and paid the price.
After only three minutes, David Seeds found himself in acres of space out wide, Kirkbride impressed with a touchline conversion. Hornets however were still punching big holes in the 'Haven line, primarily through Danny Sculthorpe. Surprising it was then, that Martin Hall removed him on 50 minutes. Scully's absence gave 'Haven the signal to advance. On the hour Seeds sent Mark Wallace scampering in from distance to score. 'Haven repeated the trick nine minutes later - a long ball from Lester, Purdham gobbling up the yards, Howard Hill in the right place for the right pass to score a cracking try by the posts. Kirkbride converted and - incredibly - the Cumbrians were in front to the delight of the travelling contingent.
In previous seasons, this would have been the point at which Hornets would have shrugged and called it a day. But this side's made of sterner stuff. Steve Gartland was introduced - the need for his unfussy, direct style obvious - and Danny Sculthorpe put back to undo the damage caused by his absence. Bizarrely Whitehaven chose to remove their big prop Mark Cox who had caused all sorts of mayhem in the Hornets defence. Big mistake from Mr Cullen.
Hornets reverted to a more simple gameplan. Matt Calland took it upon himself to lead the charge - his hard, direct running sapping the 'Haven pack's strength - ably suported by 'Chuck' Berry's blockbusting style. It worked. Hornets ground Whitehaven back to their own line and turned the screw. With tackles draining away, Dave Watson took the ball from acting half, twisting and turning through a mass of bodies, sheer determination enabled him to ground the ball. Garty converted and - with Hornets' back in front - supporters held their breaths for a grandstand finish.
Haven nudged and niggled their way back into decent field position, only for full back Wilson to knock on. Hornets players stood waiting for the whistle, 'Haven winger Roach hacked the ball through more in exasperation than expectation and ref. Steve Presley amazed everyone in the ground by waving play-on. In the ensuing scramble over the Hornets goal line, Roach spilled the ball dead. Hornets fans, as one, exhaled.
In the last set of six of the game, Hornets bulldozed their way fully sixty metres up the field and Joe Berry sealed the win steaming through a spent Whitehaven defence to score.
So, a very close call and a real warning shot across the bows for Hornets. Much like the Featherstone game, we were great for the first twenty minutes, lousy for an hour and good for the last fifteen minutes. It's no coincidence, in my opinion, that our momentum fell away when Danny Sculthorpe left the field. His running out wide coupled with his immaculate passing game had Whitehaven all over the place time and again. Similarly, though 'Haven lost their drive when prop Cox left the field.
Martin Hall will be livid over this one. At 16-nil we were cruising and in complete command - we should have gone on and finished the job properly. On a positive note, Whitehaven are no mugs and it's a sign of how far our team has come that they were able to find one last effort and turn the game around. This depth of spirit has been sadly lacking in recent years and no-one typified it more on Sunday than Matt Calland who stood up to be counted, leading the revival with a second half performance of real power and refusal to give in.
For this alone, we give him our man of the match award. Let's hope his spirit in in evidence in greater quantities across the whole team for the visit of Leigh next Sunday.
The press had this to say:
Rochdale maintained their quest for a top-four place with a 34-24 win over Whitehaven.
The Hornets opened up strongly as a fluent passing move created a gap for Marlon Billy to score his first try for six weeks in the fifth minute.
Hornets kept up the pressure using the wide Spotland pitch to full advantage as James Bunyan fed Sean Cooper after seven minutes, and he scored out wide.
The home side made it three in a row on 15 minutes as David Stephenson's short pass found Danny Sculthorpe and he twisted over from close range.
The visitors to their credit were still trying to play open football, and it paid dividends when Robert Purdham ran through a huge gap to score after 19 minutes.
Hornets completed the first-half scoring as Billy dived in at the corner for his second in the 31st minute.
But it was Whitehaven who came out with all guns blazing after the break, producing some of the most exciting rugby seen from a visiting side at Spotland this season.
David Seeds (43), Mark Wallace (58) and Howard Hill (68) crossed the line to put Whitehaven ahead and to leave the home side struggling.
Hornets showed great character as they clawed their way back into the game.
Former Whitehaven player Dave Watson crashed over in the 77th minute, but it was deep into injury time before the home fans could breathe easily, as Joe Berry burst through to seal the game.