Jump to content

Half Way


Dave Naylor

Recommended Posts

There are 17 games left in this season to decide which division we'll be playing in next year.  Having finally cracked the nut of reaching Championship status it would be a huge disappointment to simply flop back into League 1 next year.  

 

Looking at the season overall, the Halifax game last Friday was the first game of the second half of the season.  3 friendlies, 12 Championship games and a 3 game cup run = 18 Games.  The remaining 17 games + last week's defeat at the Shay = 18 games. 

 

I thought I'd do a little review of where we're at.

 

The Friendlies

 

These three games were typical of a pre-season build up.  The defeat at Keighley was just a leg stretcher on a mud bath and nothing could be read into it.  

 

Going up to Barrow and nilling them was a good workout but came at a price with the loss of Craig Briscoe to injury.  His latest setback this week where he's felt pain on a cleared injury doesn't sound good. 

 

The Law Cup win at Rochdale was good and looking at how Rochdale have performed in League 1 since, a decent reflection of our superiority over a top League 1 side.

 

13 Championship Games and Challenge Cup

 

1. London Broncos at Home:  A baptism of fire.  Since we played them they're pushing for Super League status and are notching up the wins.  0-22 was a disappointment but in the context of the season to come, not a huge one

 

2. Leigh Away: Playing the Super League wannabes on their patch second-game-up was never going to be easy.  We took the lead but then got put in our place by a bigger team.  We played with lots of credit and kept going until the end, scoring the last two tries.  Fair enough.

 

3. Dewsbury at Home: Hello, we've arrived.  This was the day we became a Championship side.  We shocked Dewsbury and they had no answer.  In hindsight the Rams are not having a good season but we beat what was put before us easily and that'll do.

 

4. Fev Away: Tough place to go, we we're still in it with 20 minutes to go.  Gave them too much respect in the first twenty minutes and ultimately paid the price.  Chance of two points lost.

 

5. Workington Away: Mad game.  We took an early lead but then let Jarrod Sammut beat us on his own.  The players underperformed yet we could have won it with ten minutes to go.  Fans left the ground a bit bemused about what had happened and were left pondering about the non-appearance of Josh Crowley.

 

6. Kells in the cup:  A potential banana skin dealt with in a workmanlike fashion. A sub 400 attendance must have disappointed Kells but job done and let's move on.

 

7. Halifax at Home: A game of two halves.  Blown away in the first, blew back in the second.  Had the game had three halves, we'd have won.  Annoying really because we should have won this game but giving the opposition too much start cost us dearly.

 

8. Swinton Away: Blown away in the first half again within 3 days.  What was going on.  Again we recovered in the second half but this had to be a targeted win and we blew it.  Grumblings from the fans and uh oh are we in a crisis?

 

9. Batley at home: Players had a midweek heart to heart.  Issues ironed out.  Result, KABOOM.  Whatever was said worked and we destroyed the joint league leaders.  Wowsers.

 

10. Sheffield at Home: Welcome home Adam and George.  Nip and tuck game decided on a drop goal.  However, we beat a full time side aiming for promotion.  Amazing.

 

11. Hull KR away in the cup:  Wow.  Stuff dreams are made of.  Hull KR going through a bit of a blip but nevertheless we were rampant in the first half and dogged on defence in the second.  Proper "I Was There  Stuff".  This team can play a bit you know.

 

12. Whitehaven Away: Saturday night in Cumbria.  We could and should have won but the old After The Lord Mayor's Show kicked in and we got beat.  Annoying but it happens.

 

13. Fev at Home: Remember us.  We should have beat you, well have some of this.  Almost threw it away but battled to the end and took the points, deservedly.  

 

14. Warrington at home in the cup:  Big build up, no DR players, we're going to lose.  We played really well for 30 minutes but a bigger squad took hold of the game and put us to bed.  Warrington were gracious in their victory and Tony Smith was awesome in his respect.  

 

15. Leigh at Home: A similar game to the one when we played them away.  Except, Leigh were nasty in your face and horrible.  They had the strength and depth but I now REALLY don't like them.

 

16. Halifax away:  Not a targeted game I presume but blimey charley, in a defence dominated, low scoring affair we could have won.  A draw would have been fair, losing sucked.  

 

So there you go.  Had games gone in our favour against the teams around us we'd be sitting pretty.  They didn't and so the fight goes on.  

 

Swinton at Blackpool is a game where we can stamp our authority on the rest of the season.  We've won plaudits from all quarters but we've now got to deliver on the home run and retain Championship status.  

 

We can do it, we've got some crucial home games against lower placed teams to come and each one will be a cup final.  We can kick-start that effort on Sunday and pay back Swinton for that Easter Monday defeat.

 

If you're someone intrigued about what's going on with your home town team, get yourself to Bower Fold,  a cracking little ground, and shout your head off with us.  It's great, really good fun.

 

Do it :)

 

Up the yeds!

 

   

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Great little synopsis of the games that Dave, can't really add much tbh. Should have beaten Worky and Haven and picked up a big bonus win at Fax imho,fact is we didn't. Your quite right Sunday is a huge game for us. We need the win. Tough now for us and we need to win 3 out of our four remaining home games and hopefully pick one or two aways up before going into the Champ shield fixtures. I believe this side can stay up, a win on Sunday will do us the world of good and boost confidence. Can't wait now for Blackpool,be loud,be proud. Lets do this. OTID

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great synopsis of the season so far. Just a little bit scary considering we only have four more home games.

However, I'd be happy with another eight points from the rest of the fixtures - I can't see the Cumbrian sides matching that.

We are safe if we beat Swinton on Sunday - been told we could have near to 500 there so make some noise!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

simple jarrard sammut if Workington had kicked their goals they would have won.

we have to play them away it will not be easy also brierley not in the Huddersfield squad he was at blackpool suited up any chance 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.