Crown Flatter

It is reckoned that a win is a win, but there are better ways of getting one than we just managed. Oldham came to spoil the party and were about five minutes short of doing so. Their tactics from the outset were, it seemed, to frustrate our play. The offside ploy and laying on in the tackle was quite successful, given that our referee missed lots, or chose not to see things (both parties being guilty of offside I would submit). All that aside, weren’t we poor! I thought that once we settled and got those two quick tries we would press Oldham hard and grab a few more, but no, things just drifted back to the way we have played in recent games and allowing our visitors to take the initiative. With that, they themselves scored two good tries and with the vociferous backing of the travelling supporters, were good value to watch at times. Stalemate in the second half, save an Oldham penalty conversion, was only broken when Ryder managed to grab his second try on 73 minutes, with Sykes converting from the touch line, having missed two in the first half, with one of them coming out off the upright. That score must have hit the Roughyeds players hard, after constantly looking like they would score, but being unable to finish. Then a couple of minutes later, a quick movement of the ball to Sykes, saw him land his drop goal. That was it for Oldham and it was no surprise when Knowles was on hand to collect a cross field kick to touch down and by the time Sykes lined up the conversion, the hooter had sounded. Not exactly a fine footballing send off for Finn, but a fine send off was given to him in the Royal Suite afterwards, he receiving the MoM award, a signed shirt and a poem written and presented to him by one of our supporters. Thanks must also go to Tom Garratt for his outstanding performances in the Red, Amber and Black and I am sure he is set for greatness in SL and we all wish him well with HKR. A mention also to Matty Fleming for his quality play for us, in both attack and defence. I’ll bet he proves to be thorn in our side when he turns out for Widnes from now on.

With nothing to lose, will Oldham come to spoil the party, like Warrington did for Castleford on Thursday night? Will this, our final game of the season, see us cutting lose and giving Liam Finn (and other departing souls) a fine send off? Will this, our final game of the season, see us win three successive matches for the first time this year? Will this, our final game of the season, see us grab our highest score this year? Come along and see what the outcome might be. Dewsbury 32-18 Oldham FTS: Tomlinson MoM: Garratt Att: 702

Probably the ones we’d like have already been taken by other clubs, one being Martyn Reilly, who I believe is to play for Sheffield next season.

According to LG at the awards evening, if everything goes our way, we could finish 9th, that’s above York, Newcastle and Sheffield and of course Oldham and Swinton. We’ll know on Sunday.

Matthew Fletcher is a lad from Stslybrdge, originally played for Oldham. See Wakefield Ram’s August 13th posting, headed “More New Players”.

Do you know the answer, or is this an appeal to see if someone knows if there are two such players?

Looks like the club is telling us about those players re-signing first and thus far we have: Andy Gabriel Reiss Butterworth Lewis Carr Leavng us at the end of the season are: Tom Garratt (to HKR) Matty Fleming (Widnes)

Perhaps not. I heard such a remark from one of your supporters before yesterday’s match, with that person suggesting it was first noted last week against Whitehaven.

Finn had another fine game again, this time with a try to his name (and almost a second one too) and it was he who I think controlled the game. I thought it was Finny’s high kick to the corner that got us the best try of the match, but on seeing the highlights, it was Fleming’s kick. Once again Andy Gabriel was on hand to reach up for the ball, but on this occasion to palm it down to Ryder for him to t ouch the ball down. We seemed determined to get things right and the sin binning and dismissal didn’t seem to put off our determination to beat our old enemy. For those who didn’t go to the match, be it because they didn’t want to see another drubbing, chose not to because they were dismayed with our lack-lustre performances, or through holiday commitments, missed what turned out to be a far better quality derby game than we have seen for some years. I couldn’t comment on Sam Day’s uncharacteristic moment as I was too far away to see just what happened. Mention above has been made of some refereeing decisions and here I have to ask why he gave Batley so many set restarts, which did not seem merited, yet only gave us a couple? If Magrin had to be sin binned, why not Brown in the second half (I think it was he) for leading with the elbow? In conclusion I should say that, in my opinion, the final score did not reflect our superiority in the match. Well done, also to Paul Sykes, who in this game, amassed his 2,500th career point (2501) and what better match to do it, than against Batley. I too, hope we give Finny a fine send off to his career next week and hope, for once, we can do it in style for him.

Time for a prediction. Batley will obviously want to bite back after last week’s home defeat and who better to bite than Dewsbury? I’m afraid it will happen too. Batley 30-6 Dewsbury TS: Knowles MoM: Fleming Att: 1127

Featherstone and FAIR play don’t exactly go cap in hand.

Andy Gabriel is the first player to be announced as a re-signing for next year, on a one year deal. That’s great news in my opinion.

Is he being informed though? Little has been updated recently; no news and no interviews.

I wonder if your news will appear on the club’s website anytime soon?

You have reluctantly, it seems, quoted the cost of admission, but not answered Silcoates’ other question, which most supporters would like to know, (including paying at the ground on Sunday and if so, is the cost the same as online?) .