Hornets start season with a win

Hornets got off to an impressive start to the season with a win over Keighley Cougars.

Rochdale Hornets kicked off their 2020 League One campaign with a convincing 29-14 victory at home to Keighley Cougars in a game riddled with penalties.

Minutes in, Hornets looked the far better of the two sides with some great pressure that the Cougars defence struggled to deal with.

And it took only nine minutes for Rochdale to get themselves on the scoresheet. Andy Lea dived on a Sean Penkywicz grubber kick to ground the ball between the sticks and gave Sam Freeman a simple conversion. 

Keighley struggled to manage with the quality of Hornets’ kicking, and that cost them after 23 minutes, a Martyn Ridyard kick was fumbled by Keighley’s Richie Hawkyard giving Jamie Tracey the perfect opportunity to slide over.

But as the game got closer to half time, lapses in concentration by Hornets outfit gifted Keighley a few penalties that put Rochdale on the back foot.

Five minutes from the end of the first-half, Keighley finally got themselves on the board as Jack Miller found a gap in the Hornets line and grounded the ball on the left flank.

And that left side of the Hornets defensive line was exposed again minutes later as Jake Webster barged over to make it 14-10 after 40 minutes.

Half time team talks in the Hornets dressing room must have been interesting as Rochdale came out a lot hungrier. 

Sean Penkywicz came back on for the Hornets and orchestrated some great play.

The Hornets captain found a gap in Keighley’s line and fed Liam Whalley who grounded the ball to extend his side’s lead again after 57 minutes.

Minutes later, Martyn Ridyard, on loan from Leigh Centurions, scored his first point for the Hornets with a drop goal.

But the Cougars were not ready to call it a day yet, Macauley Hallett forced a massive tackle from Dale Bloomfield on his own line with 13 minutes to go, before Mobolaji Agoro was pushed into touch by a strong Hornets defence.

The latter stages of the game saw some scrappy play as both sides conceded penalties, the quality of the pitch may have been a factor.

Keighley thought a comeback might be on with another try of their own three minutes from time by Richie Hawkyard, but Sam Hopkins cancelled that out right on the whistle to make the final score 29-14 at the Crown Oil Arena.

Written by Luke Wallworth