STEVE P

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.

A bit of a return to bad old times in the first half. Our field kicking is sadly lacking in ideas, and lacking altogether when we are struggling to get out of our own 25 with the wind in our favour. Nobody, however, could have stopped the last Widnes try. Brilliant. Pride returned in the second half and again the pack were managing to cope with a bigger and faster set of forwards. Well done to all. All in all not too disappointed today. Btw CF, not a bad stab at predicting the score.

I know he couldn't play forever, but I always said that Paul Sykes was worth between one and two tries a game just for his abilities as a goal kicker. If we had a kicker of his calibre now we would be quite a bit higher in the league. Not to mention somebody who had an idea about field kicking. Don't get me wrong. Much as I admire Paul Sykes, I know that we couldn't rely on him forever. I just think that one single player, with just the right relatively simple skills could make all the difference to a side that are playing out of their skins but not quite getting their just rewards.

I really think that it would do us good to get to the bottom of why we seem to give away so many free kicks and set resets, the latter in particular seems to always be balanced well in favour of the opposition. It's easy for us, the fans, to blame the referee in the heat of our fervour, but they can't all be set against us can they? More likely we just aren't timing our actions after the tackle as well as other sides do. When it then comes to a tight situation in the last few minutes of the game you can see the players becoming desperate not to concede any further free advantage to the opposition. As a result they go snatchy and lose the form that has until then served them so well. We need a way to learn how to stay on the ref's good side throughout the game. In general I wasn't as disappointed on Friday as with the Sheffield game. Don't know why, because it was Batley. Maybe because I didn't expect it to be so close in the first place.

Sorry to hear that. He was a cracking forward. Might not be too sorry to miss him on Friday though!

Is that lad called Brown who plays with 13 on his back still at Batley? I don't know if he raises his game against us, but I always reckon he must be one of the best forwards in the Championship. He runs like he means it and takes a lot of energy out of opposing forwards.

Disappointed to the point of being heart broken at losing this match. Okay, so we're not as street smart as we need to be. We let Sheffield boss the ref to the point where everything they shouted for in the first half they got. It was quite amusing to see their reaction when a couple of decisions finally went against them near the end of the match. We should also have anticipated the big push that lost us the ball and ultimately the result in the last scrum of the game. Also, nobody has been more critical than me, in recent months, of the attitudes, coaching and skill levels we have seen, but today every single player had the right to feel proud. At 12 all I thought Sheffield would go on to win easily. To get back on top against the elements as they were today and a ref being dominated by bullying from the opposition was a credit to everybody involved. Gutted, but more hopeful for the future than I've been for a while.

Thanks to WR for coming up with the videos. Nice to see us score some tries that didn't involve barging over from close in.

For some of us it is.

Congratulations to Paul, and well done to the RFL for recognising his contribution to the game at all levels.

I so hope, for CF's sake, that some time before the end of the season somebody puts up a high kick on the opposition line and Brad Graham rises above the throng of defenders to grab the ball down and score. The cry of "I told you so!" will be heard throughout the North and beyond.

You need to be careful Ackroman and WR. There's a Laughing Cavalier around who will put a Laughing Face Imoji on your quote if you upset him A devastating reposte that slaps you down more completely than any other argument that anyone could put to you. You've been warned!

I had a pint of Super League bitter when we went to Headingley for the third Ashes test. It would be a greedy beggar who would want to drink a lot of that.