The Panthers side were dominant throughout and the Trojans were never rally at the races. To make Thornhill’s day even worse full back Johnny Campbell suffered a broken collar bone which forced the game to be suspended on 53 minutes until an ambulance arrived to take him away. The delay simply prolonged Thornhill’s misery in what was a disappointing start to the season.

Amongst this dire performance from Thornhill were a select handful of good individual efforts.

Man of the match Liam Morley, playing at loose forward, showed some good touches and there were enthusiastic efforts from youngsters James Craven and Daniel Annakin. Winger Rob Copley looked solid and Scott Woodcock made some powerful runs but it was as a team unit that Thornhill lacked cohesion.

Thornhill Trojans Rob Copley in full flight.

The Castleford team made a whirlwind start to this game and scored in the opening two minutes of play. A powerful tackle forced Thornhill’s Johnny Campbell to spill the ball close to his own try line. Castleford played on and Dave Jessey went over for a try which Sean Hesketh converted.

Thornhill’s shaky start continued when they conceded a soft try. Good forward momentum from Castleford team burst through some weak tackling. The attack ended with Paul Steel ploughing under a pile of Thornhill defenders to score a try. Dean Hesketh converted.

It then took a flash of brilliance from youngster James Craven to get Thornhill back into this game. Craven latched onto a pass from Scott Dyson to carve the Panthers defence wide open with a well timed run. Craven set off at pace and sprinted over for a try which Craig Holmes converted.

But no sooner had Thornhill begun to raise their hopes for this game when their tormentor Neil Bennett once again appeared on the scene. Bennett has a history of scoring tries against Thornhill and today was no exception. With play on the half way line Bennett intercepted a Scott Dyson pass to race away. No Thornhill defenders could get near him as he galloped over for a try. Sean Hesketh converted.

The score remained unchanged in the run up to half time, and this was despite the sin binning of Castleford’s Sean Hesketh for a professional foul. Thornhill did appear to be on course for a try right on the stroke of half time but Ben Kendall was bundled into touch in the corner.

A Sean Hesketh penalty goal opened the scoring in the second half before Johnny Campbell made a wonderful break for Thornhill. Campbell set off at speed on a run which took him down the top touch line. However, a solid tackle sent Campbell crashing into touch. Campbell never recovered from this tackle and remained on the ground next to the touch line clearly in some difficulty. The referee allowed play to go on while Thornhill’s physiotherapist Greg Brown attended to Campbell.

Johnny Campbell lies in agony.