Bulldogs seize on Hornets’ collapse
ROCHDALE Hornets suffered a late collapse against Batley Bulldogs after failing to hold on to their lead.
Hornets led 36-22 with just six minutes remaining, but conceded three tries in the closing stages to narrowly lose the game.
The turning point came when Matthew Hadden was sin-binned for holding down, with Sean Ainscough then going over from the resulting penalty.
He was in again moments later before Tom Lillycrop went over in the dying moments to secure a comeback win for Batley and condemn Hornets to what seemed an unlikely defeat.
Hornets had performed well for the majority of the match, and had led 16-0 at one stage after good work from the likes of Rob Massam, Harvey Livett and Benjamin Jullien.
Batley temporarily reduced the deficit when Macauley Hallett went over, but Lewis Galbraith got his side’s fourth try to keep Rochdale firmly in the driving seat.
More points added for both teams meant it was 22-12 to Rochdale at the break, and the visitors soon picked up where they left off at the start of the second half.
That was because Hadden and Jack Johnson both added tries for their team to make a Rochdale victory seem an inevitability with the score at 36-12.
Sam Smeaton and Will Maher then added unconverted tries midway through the second half, but their opportunities then dried up and it seemed like they were heading for defeat when the match entered the final 10 minutes.
Batley had other ideas though as they then staged their late comeback to turn things round and hand Rochdale a loss.
The defeat leaves Hornets seventh in the Kingstone Press Championship table with seven points picked up, having won three, drawn one and lost five of their nine matches to take place so far this season.