Doncaster RLFC 30 Hornets 20

Coach John Stankevitch labelled the defeat as the "worst performance of the season"

Hornets suffered a surprise defeat to Doncaster RLFC at the Keepmoat Stadium as the Yorkshire club led from start to finish.

Craig Johnson, Andy Saywell, John Cookson and Danny Samuel ran in tries for the away side but it wasn’t enough to prevent Doncaster emerging 30-20 victors at the final whistle.

Coach John Stankevitch, who signed a two-year contract extension just the day before, described the game as “the worst defeat and worst performance of the season”, but was not overly critical of his side:

“There was a little bit of complacency and players believing in their own hype.

“There was no lack of effort, but there was a lack of application.

“Key players from four or five weeks ago have suffered a dip in form at the same time.

“The last two games have been average performances, not poor, but we can’t afford them because we have a tough run-in.”

The first of those remaining fixtures will be against bottom of the league London Skolars, a team which Hornets battered 68-10 in early April, scoring 13 tries in the process.

Yet the Spotland chief remained cautious about a side which has lost every match this season:

“Nothing changes in terms of game plan, but I will definitely change personnel.

“It will be a dangerous game. They’re just 80 minutes from getting a win. They’ve got nothing to lose at all, but they’ll try things and be confident of causing us problems, although we’ve caused ourselves problems in recent weeks.”