Dons boss Richard Horne reacts to last gasp Challenge Cup win over minnows Thornhill Trojans

Both teams faced top-flight National Conference sides with the Dons needing a try two minutes from time to beat Thornhill Trojans 24-20 at the Tetley’s Stadium with Bentley producing a spirited showing in a 20-4 defeat at Leigh East Miners.

Dons boss Richard Horne admitted that he would have had no complaints about the result had his side, who reached the sixth round last year, gone out in their first game of the 2020 competition.

“Pre-season went well and we’d trained well all week so it was disappointing to play like we did in our first competitive game of the season,” he said. “We’ve a lot of work to do ahead of our first league game of the season this weekend.

“With the likes of Matty (Beharrell) and Rangi (Chase) out we didn’t have any leadership or anyone to steer us around the field but I can’t take anything away from Thornhill. They played really well and probably deserved to win.

“I feel for their kid who slipped in the play which led to Watson (Boas) scoring the winning try at the end. Once he got clear he was always going to score.

“They started off playing 100 miles an hour and scored first and that was massive for them in terms of confidence and we came in trailing 14-6 though we knew we’d have the wind in the second half and that would be a factor.

“But their energy levels remained high throughout the game, and credit them for that, and I think we probably have questions to answer about our attitude.

“We got some momentum and we scored two tries to lead for the first time at 18-14 and it looked like we were going to pull away in the final quarter. But that didn’t happen.

“They scrambled really well in defence and worked hard throughout and we made too many errors and gave away too many penalties which gifted them field position and they scored some really good tries – particularly their first and third.”