RobLambert

Very well put. We're used to disappointments at Fev and I think most of us trudge off home when we lose, blaming something or another and pretending we're not bothered. But it does matter and we've not had enough days like today in the last few years. Even when we had the best team by a mile we underperformed when it mattered. More days like today please. Surprising a few people is what the club has always been about. As far as the 1895 cup goes. I've been critical in the past but we are where we are and all that. Its our cup final and our Wembley. Wait a minute it is the cup final and it is at Wembley. Get in !

The team line up and scorers on the bbc website are well worth a look - lol. I was thinking who the scorers were and could only remember 6 tries. Some use that was. 4 of the 17 listed were sat in the stands. It even gets the number of goal kicks wrong. Maybe the details were provided by whoever operated the scoreboard..... .......Now been partly corrected.

Us to win by a distance

There you go - a bargain. Plus you can always park free a short walk away. Shame they put that barrier up at the Dr's

In the league game it was the Jimmy Frizzel end stand. Car park behind that end. Extortionate £6. Tried to find some on street parking nearby but couldn't see anything.

I would always play Josh at centre although it seems that for most of his Fev career the talk has been about him being moved to the forwards. Fair point about Hatton's tries but O'Connor has scored a few now and has played fewer games. They are different players - I think O'Connor has better pace / footwork and shows some classy touches whereas Hatton (trying not to sound too negative) is a bit more one dimensional crash bang wallop. So Arnold comes in. I think we're assuming Day won't feature. Anyway this will probably be wrong plus there's the unknown injury doubts Cooke has mentioned. Hope he's just playing mind games.....

Just when there was light at the end of the tunnel

I'd probably leave out Olpherts and Hatton but this must be the best squad we've had to chose from all season.

He knows where the line is and I'm sure he'll be our top scoring forward this season. I don't think that many others would have scored the try he did against Catalans.

I'd have to disagree about Williams - I think he's been one of our better forwards- he takes it in strongly and runs some good lines. So I personally wouldn't put him in that sizable group of signings who we really thought were better than they've turned out to be. Plus if we're talking about forwards - I can't really fault Beckett.

I'm predicting we'll make the top 6. It may look worse after this weekend but only Bradford and Toulouse in the current top 6 will have a game in hand - and they are going to finish above us anyway. We're only 4pts off 6th is how I see it. I may change my mind if we don't beat Widnes and sadly t'cup may be a distraction.

If Akuala puts on a wig and wears a dress perhaps he could get match fit playing with the ladies.

I've thought that many times over the last few years. Didn't he get our (unfancied) team into the top 4 in both full seasons in charge but was cast aside for being boring. In the main since then we've either under-achieved / been boring or both.

Hopefully that was the reason because the turnout / atmosphere was more like you'd expect for a pre-season game.

I would like to think he was pulling your leg about his height.

None of us want to see Wynne leave. As it turns out though - if it's imminent - it may have been better if we could have pushed the swap deal through this week. We do seem light in the forwards without Springer and Wilde going back.

1. Jones 2. Hampshire 3. Aekins

Serious question but where do you find this info out ? RFL disciplinary site as of this afternoon was not that up to date. Same place as where we find out kick off times maybe ?

Yeah I'm not overly concerned of the exact number either. As you say I'm sure we all recognise what a decent crowd looks like and the atmosphere it brings.

We might get a closer figure if we all had a guess and found the average.

Jones was immense in the second half though - in his usual position (as were most of the others)

Does that mean he would play against Toulouse and the ban will take effect the week after ?

I think with hindsight they should have said prior to the game that Reynolds shouldn't be kicking so Hampshire replaces him - whether he misses his first attempt or not. I don't think Hampshire fancied it though as his first attempt was poor as were some of his attempts last week (he seemed to get frustrated last week after missing). To be fair though - like Reynolds - he has just returned from an injury. We know Addy's ok but probably unlikely to bang over 6/6. Interesting that after the London game game Cooke mentioned the quality of the goalkicking and how he would have a word with them. I don't think they miss on purpose and I can't imagine that giving them a kick up the backside has ever done any good. Reminds me of a few years ago when Hall was having a bad time so we tried other options which of course didn't work. Ironically Hampshire's last kick which missed was probably our best kick of the game. 55 yards out and would have cleared the crossbar comfortably. When you think about it - the conversion thing is an odd rule really. I'd be happy if they got rid and we only had penalty goals. e.g. A barge over try under the sticks gets a guaranteed 6pts yet a length of the field effort ending with the winger flying in at the corner is a likely 4pts. I'll write to the RFL...

Yeah I agree with your points re the game. Just on the above.... I thought Reynolds was hobbling slightly for much of the game. He seemed to feel his ankle when attempting his last kick in particular. So I hope he's ok for Friday. I've no doubt Springer will pick up a ban, not least because 'not guilty' or 'sending off sufficient' doesn't seem to be a thing anymore ? The incident was the first thing I looked for on the replay because in real time it just looked ok and the reaction from the players / supporters suggested the same. If you pause the replay just before the impact the Oldham player was in an odd crouching position and facing a wall of Springer and Beckett I'm not sure how he expected not to have some head contact. (Also just before the sending off I'm fairly sure Hardcastle had the ball stripped on their line. The ref definitely didn't see it but the Oldham players told him he'd dropped it). I may be wrong but I think Connor Jones came back on again ? Yes I thought the defence was much better which seems odd when we conceded 5 tries but they were well executed. Structurally we seemed to look much better. It was a shame we lost - for lots of reasons. It was the best we've played this season. Obviously the goalkicking was the difference compounded by the fact that Drinkwater probably had the best kicking game of his career - including (crucially) one off the post. Hopefully our luck will start to change.

1. Aekins 2. Hardcastle 3. Webb