With both Thornhill coaches Paul March and Brett Ferres on duty for Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in Catalan, the responsibility of leading the Trojans into battle fell onto the shoulders of player Scott Dyson.

The absence of Craig Holmes also left the Trojans without their regular kicker. The solution – let Scott Dyson carry the further responsibility of kicking duties as well.

Given these circumstances the manor in which Thornhill steam rolled the East Hull team, particularly in the second half is testimony to Dyson leadership skills. Dyson stood tall throughout and guided Thornhill to the victory.

There were also sterling performances from substitutes Danny Lee and James Folan. Both players entered the field of play in the first half and added to Thornhill’s forward momentum.

Danny Lee came off the bench to put in a match winning performance.

Danny Lee went on to collect the official man of the match award and try scorer Folan will have done in reputation the world of good under the watchful eye of BARLA coach Mick Turner.

The hard Rosemead Street playing surface proved to be a real leveller with several players from both teams picking up bad knocks in the first half and had to retire from action. East Hull seemed to make use of their substitutes quickly and as the game wore on these injuries clearly took their toll on their pattern of play.

For the opening half an hour of play the teams remained locked in a stalemate. Other than a break from Richard Pachniuk, Thornhill made very little threat to the East Hull try line.

However, it was after a stoppage in play that Thornhill finally got some points on the board. The stoppage came after East Hull’s Shaun Painter was knocked out in a tackle. After Painter had been assisted from the field Thornhill made a raid for the try line. With play close to the line, Richard Pachniuk picked up the ball from acting half and ducked under a tackle to go over for a try. Scott Dyson converted to see the Trojans lead 6-0 at the interval.

Thornhill made a disastrous start to the second half when they allowed the ball to go straight out from the kick off. From the drop out a sequence of embarrassing missed tackles provided too much of an opportunity and East Hull’s Danny McDonald breezed over for a try. Scott Yeaman converted to level the scores.

This score was immediately cancelled out by Thornhill when a dummy from Anthony Broadhead unlocked the East Hull defence. Broadhead then sent out a pass which sent James Folan charging over for an unconverted try.

But then just as the second half had started Thornhill began to make some silly mistakes and gifted opportunities to East Hull. These scraps looked to be providing East Hull with a life line and when hooker Matt Ellis burrowed over the try line Thornhill looked to be their own worst enemy. Despite protests from Thornhill that Ellis had not grounded the ball, referee Chris Dean awarded the try and Scott Yeaman converted to put the home team in the lead.

Rob Copley finished the game with a brace of tries.

Scott Dyson converted and Thornhill could sense they were on the victory trail.