Against-the-odds victory over former club delights Hunslet boss Gary Thornton

The Parksiders began their Betfred League One campaign with a stunning 20-18 comeback win at Doncaster who are expected to be among their main rivals for a top-five slot.

It was Dons’ second game of the season and they led 12-0 early on and 18-10 in the second half, but Hunslet stuck to their guns and snatched a memorable win after Reece Dean booted two penalty goals in the final moments.

The victory was achieved despite Hunslet being reduced to 11 men for a spell in the second half, with both Josh Tonks and Danny Nicklas in the sin-bin and Thornton – a former Doncaster coach – said: “I was delighted.

“We struggled a bit in the first 20 to get to the pace of the game.

“Being a week behind everybody else didn’t help us, we were slightly off the pace at the start of the game and, fair play to Doncaster, they came out of the blocks well and took a 12-point lead.

“Once we got a foothold we competed, we were physical defensively and we took our chances when they came along.

“It was a great fightback, we showed great resilience and it was a fantastic start for us to knock off one of our key opponents at their place.”

Hunslet did not get through unscathed.

Thornton reported: “Richard Moore got a nasty head knock and had to come off with concussion.

“He wasn’t feeling great after the game and he still had pins and needles [on Monday] so I told him to get to hospital to get it checked out.

“Duane Straugheir took a bit of a knock to a hand which swelled up pretty badly, but I don’t think that’s anything too serious and there was nothing else major.”