Report: Dewsbury Rams 22-34 Rochdale Hornets

Rochdale Hornets recorded back-to-back Betfred Championship wins for just the third time this season on Wednesday night, defeating Dewsbury Rams 34-22 at FLAIR Stadium.

The Hornets' midweek victory was all the more impressive given the short turnaround following Sunday's comeback victory at Workington Town. 

Gary Thornton's side saw four changes from the weekend, with Max Flanagan, Chris Barratt, Harvey Braddish and Luke Waterworth missing out. 

Jordan Paga came in to start at full-back, while new signing Dan Hackney made his debut in the back row and Jay Scriven and George Roby were brought onto the bench. 

It was Dewsbury who drew first blood inside five minutes through Louie Walker, who plucked Jacob Hookem's cross-field kick out of the air to touch down in the right corner.

It didn't take the Hornets long to respond though. Moving the ball quickly to the right edge, Paga found Matty Unsworth and he raced through a gap between centre and winger to plant the ball down. 

Shortly before the half-hour, the Hornets hit the front when a deft kick from Jamie Dallimore bounced in-behind and TJ Boyd reached it first to score in the corner.

Just before half-time, Dallimore extended the lead with a penalty goal which made it 14-6 at the interval. 

The second half began perfectly for the hosts, who scored twice in a matter of minutes through Tom Delaney and Walker again to make it 16-14 to the Rams. 

But as was the case on Sunday afternoon, the Hornets dug deep to find a response through Dallimore. Jordan Syme's strong run to the left edge laid the platform for Roby to scoot out of dummy-half on the next play and send the experienced half-back through a gap to touch down. 

Roby bagged another assist soon after, sending Syme crashing under the posts to make it a 10-point ball game.

That gap was cut to four nine minutes from time when Brad Graham powered his way over from close range.

But a penalty inside the Dewsbury half game Dallimore the chance to kick the Hornets six points ahead, then Jaden Dayes powered through two defenders to go over two minutes from time to seal an impressive victory on the road.

Dewsbury Rams: O'Connor, Walker, Carr, Senior, Delaney, Coates, Hookem, Nelmes, Lumb, Collinson, Brown, Graham, Summers. Bench: Parkinson, Roberts, Briggs, Tomlinson. 

Tries: Walker (2), Delaney, Graham

Goals: Walker (3)

Rochdale Hornets: Paga, Chippendale, Unsworth, Sa'u Boyd, Dallimore, Hansen, Ioane, Whitmore, Dayes, Wood, Hackney, Syme. Bench: Hatton, Roby, Scriven, Coleman.

Tries: Unsworth, Boyd, Dallimore, Syme, Dayes

Goals: Dallimore (7)

Post-match reaction