STEVE P

Sadly, these days as players improve so do their prospects and some follow the money and move on. Don't blame them, young men with a life to build and all that, but I don't have to like it.

14 points it was then, but not the way round I wanted. Hopefully the coach will be happier with today's performance after last week's 'worst of the season' debacle.

Drat, fail to qualify by a year or two. I reckon Dewsbury by 14 points as the away from home juju strikes again.

Not only would I take exception with the coach's interpretation of the quality of the team's performance, but I fail to see how slagging your players off in public when they have just won a hard fought match in difficult conditions can be good coaching practice.

Yes, I said the same about calling the last tackle late. At one time in the first half I thought the ball had already been played before he put his hand up for a Whitehaven last tackle and they were caught with the ball for the hand over. All in all though the ref did OK. If you aren't thinking about him, or noticing him then he is having a good game.

Thoroughly enjoyed the game today, a proper game of rugby. Despite the wet conditions neither side made too many mistakes and the ref kept out of it for the most part. I had to smile when the Whitehaven supporters were singing to us about what we should do with our Yorkshire pudding. I was in a unit in the TA with a load of lads from Cumbria. They don't like Yorkshire men, nor do they like Lancastrians and they very much dislike Scotsmen. In fact they don't like a big percentage of the rest of the people in Cumbria who aren't themselves either. One lad, who was my particular mate, reserved the most intense of his dislike for the bloke who lived next door to him. You most certainly can't accuse them of regional bias. Oh, and, if you needed it, they would have given you the shirt off their back. Today the Whitehaven crowd's good natured banter helped make a grim afternoon into an enjoyable one.

Typical RFL. No point having a simple system if a complicated one will do. Bit of shame to be missing Danny again straight after his head injury break.

Fortress anywhere but Flair.

You watch these young lads then they go to play somewhere else and eventually retire from the game. Consequently you never see them grow old and it comes as a bit of a shock when you hear that they have died. As the Championship side began to disintegrate Steve was about the best forward we had. There was a clip of Fev in the Cup Final where Steve was involved in a move that led to a try. Think it introduced something like Question of Sport. So sorry to hear this news. Commiserations to Steve's family. Xxx

Can't believe I did that. Like you say, maybe I should have a go at the test and hope that spelling isn't featured too much in the assessment.

BTW, does everybody else keep getting asked if they want to do a dementure test as they come on here? What is it that they're trying to say to me?

Perhaps with it being a cup game Widnes are entitled to a share of the gate, in which case it won't have been just our decision to make.

Another master product from the RFL Think Tank then.

Funnily enough a Widnes supporter we spoke to at half time said that they had thought before today that their own side was too honest. If they can learn then so could we.

No CF, I don't think anybody would have backed you at that stage. All credit to the players for their performance after the break.