A real nail biter saw the Hornets snatch victory with 6 seconds to play.

The Hornets had taken a large travelling fan base (Well 6 is large for us) to the Sporting Edge Arena and they were rewarded with the best and the worst from the Hornets and they all went home with sore throats. MBC are bottom of the division but the Hornets were warned not to take them lightly as they won't stay there for long.

Sure enough MBC started very strongly and only excellent drives from Jon Print, John Whelan and Paul Coleman kept the scores close in the early period. Big man, Sam Barnard, ran into early foul trouble and Gut Johnson limped off forcing the Hornets to play their bench early. The MBC Captain, Thompson, then found his shooting range to pile on the agony for the Hornets as MBC scored 23 first quarter points and the Hornets were 7 down going into Q2.

The Hornets now turned the tables though. A switch to a zone defence stopped the scoring from MBC while Sam Bithell and Jon Print found their range from beyond the 3 point line. The Hornets policy of bench rotation now played it's part as the MBC first 5 tired all of the Hornets played their part. The Hornets took the lead just before half time and went in 1 point up and looking comfortable.

If Q2 had been the good Q3 was the bad and the ugly all rolled into one. The Hornets played sloppy defence and turned over the ball far too many times. Shots were hurried and off balance it looked like the Hornets would get blown off the court as MBC too the lead with ease. There were gasps and girly screams from the fans (and some of it was from the girls too!). No points were scored for five minutes and a Time out was called to put some structure back into the game. The Defence tightened and John and Barney contributed points by rebounding strongly. But the Hornets had only scored 5 in the quarter and were now down again by 4.

The Hornets locked their defence in Q4 and the defensive rebounding was excellent but MBC were making it tough going to score as the Hornets slowly pulled the lead back again Jon Print showing how valuable he is under pressure. Scores were tied with one minute to play both teams attempted and failed to score and with 10 seconds to go Barney rebounded at about 11 feet and passed out to John Whelan who immediately started to drive from his own half with only one thought. The MBC defender made sure he was going nowhere with a tackle that belonged on the rugby field and an unsportsman like foul was awarded.

Who do the Hornets need on the line in this situation but the Iceman? - yet again he proved he has no nerves and calmly slots the two frees. From the possession Sam was fouled and slotted one of the frees, to leave the Hornets 3 up with 2 seconds to go. MBC launched the ball down court only to see it intercepted by ... that's right -The Iceman picking out the ball and a fabulous victory.

MBC v Holmes Chapel