Match thread: 1895 Cup. Batley Bulldogs v Featherstone Rovers. Sunday 4th February 2024.

[The Phantom Horseman]

Looking at his Instagram Nathan Massey seems to have spent most of the week at Pinderfields with his wife, who gave birth again on Tuesday, and young family, so whether that impacts his availability today remains to be seen.

It's nearly always a tough game at Batley and wouldn't expect today to be any different.  Hopefully we can continue the steady progress.

[FR23]

Anyone know tickets prices for today? 

[lingaro]

6 minutes ago, FR23 said:

Anyone know tickets prices for today? 

3 time more expensive than last week for me.  Juniors £5 adults £20

[sentoffagain2]

               On Batley website it was £20 adults £15 concessions ie old codgers like me.

[elppaxr2i]

1 hour ago, sentoffagain2 said:

               On Batley website it was £20 adults £15 concessions ie old codgers like me.

Website is not updated - there are no concessions - when you actually go to buy a ticket online the price is £20 for all adults

Edited February 4 by elppaxr2i

[POR]

Plenty to get our teeth in at the Dogs today 

[POR]

Here we go 

[Michael Bates]

Incredibly poor performance. Discipline and ball retention shocking. Huge amounts of pressure on their line and we couldn't break them down. Credit to their defense.

[haskey]

A first half the likes I have never seen for a long long time. We were shocking. Our man management in the second half when we got out noses in front was poor. It looks like a hard season. ???

[elppaxr2i]

Unless Hunslet somehow pull off a miracle next week - We are now out of the 1895 cup & York will more than likely get the best runners up spot

Edited February 4 by elppaxr2i

[Catflap]

Reynolds looked frustrated today with the lack of support and positional play from his backs. Our forwards are lacking too but that will hopefully improve with the introduction of Yei, Albert & Bussey.

On paper we look like a competitive championship side but that first half today was awful to watch, we then left ourselves with too much to do in the second half.

That pitch was terrible but Batley seemed to play the conditions better. 

I don't think we can blame the ref either, first 20 he did give Batley everything but after that Fev should've taken their chances when we were also gifted good field position.

Did Reynolds have his boots on the correct feet today?? He spooned a few kicks ha.

[Michael Bates]

6 minutes ago, Catflap said:

Reynolds looked frustrated today with the lack of support and positional play from his backs. Our forwards are lacking too but that will hopefully improve with the introduction of Yei, Albert & Bussey.

On paper we look like a competitive championship side but that first half today was awful to watch, we then left ourselves with too much to do in the second half.

That pitch was terrible but Batley seemed to play the conditions better. 

I don't think we can blame the ref either, first 20 he did give Batley everything but after that Fev should've taken their chances when we were also gifted good field position.

Did Reynolds have his boots on the correct feet today?? He spooned a few kicks ha.

I don't think we ourselves too much to do in the second half. We conceded 3 points and were camped in their 20 for 25 minutes. We couldn't break them down, other than Springer our props are trundlers that can't break a tackle. 

Game management was terrible after we took the lead. We let the kickoff go dead, not that it cost us but it seemed to signal us turning off. Then the Reynolds klck that went dead when being tackled on the last 5 yards out would have been a much better option. 

Game deciding 3 points came on the back of poor discipline which seemed to plague us all match, although I reckon we received more penalties than we conceded.

[J Phil Loxton]

The referee wasn't to blame though it did seem as though it was going that way early on but Fev had enough possession and penalties to win three games after that. With the ease of scoring our first try it looked like Batley would be in for a long game. We were clueless taking wrong options every time. The club is in total apathy at what went on last season. It's filtered down to the fans. What we saw today is what we can expect in the future. Batley deserved their victory today.

[haskey]

As JPL say the club is in a faster decline than I thought we would be . If things do not pick up  pronto, crowds will start to drop off and we will possibly be looking down not up  to a top 4 or even 6 place.

[Fevrover]

7 minutes ago, haskey said:

As JPL say the club is in a faster decline than I thought we would be . If things do not pick up  pronto, crowds will start to drop off and we will possibly be looking down not up  to a top 4 or even 6 place.

Didn't go today but was it that bad ? 3 tries to two to Rovers and its only the 2nd game so surely we will improve on today's showing ? 

[sentoffagain2]

     I will stick by my original forecast anything higher than 7th will be a good season.Once we keep getting beat the crowds will fall off and then we will be just outside the top four Championship clubs.I can see why prices have been put up and i don't mind as i could afford the early bird price but £20 and £25 is expensive for Championship Rugby.Didn't go to today's game as i am unable to walk properly due to a dodgy disc in my spine.Did it 52 years ago tackling in the wrong position [FRONT] and it flares up two or three times a year.10 days and i should be ok.For anyone who didn't see Barry John play he was without doubt the best stand off Wales have ever had.Floated over the ground and never had to rush like all very good players he always seemed to have plenty of time.RIP.

[Rovers fev]

Showed good signs against Bradford, dewsbury and hunslet, it’s clear today we was lacking in the middle which we have players coming in in that area, we lacked organisation on the left edge, batley away has been a hard fixture for years no need for a meltdown, fordy is the man for the job we can’t decide whose in and out let’s see where we are after round 6 and decide then 

[lingaro]

Over reaction. 1 point and they never looked like scoring a try in the second and had the slope and big wind beind them.  We will improve.  How come the tip of hardcastle wasn't a sin bin be Minkins was?  No consistency. 

[Dog forever]

2 hours ago, haskey said:

As JPL say the club is in a faster decline than I thought we would be . If things do not pick up  pronto, crowds will start to drop off and we will possibly be looking down not up  to a top 4 or even 6 place.

Doooom and gloooom, for goodness sake guys you lost to a better team on the day, its not that bad surely.  Always a good game by dogs and fev, and yes a lot of fans from all clubs probably didn't expect us to win. We all know fev are going to be up there come season end, but will take some bigger knocks than todays. Here's to a up coming season of championship  

[sentoffagain2]

      Way i see it and it is early days we havn't started the League yet.Top Wakey then Toulouse Bradford Fax York and Batley or Fev  in 6th.If the players give 100% on the field i'm fine with that.No reason why we can't play more open rugby though mix things up.A few planned moves and 40/20's.We may need a centre and a stand off with Lacans at 9 and Jones coming off the bench where he causes more damage.

[sentoffagain2]

    Forgot Sheffield expect them to be above us challenging for a top 4 place.

[Michael Bates]

1 hour ago, lingaro said:

Over reaction. 1 point and they never looked like scoring a try in the second and had the slope and big wind beind them.  We will improve.  How come the tip of hardcastle wasn't a sin bin be Minkins was?  No consistency. 

Being all but eliminated from the competition makes it a tougher pill to swallow. If we'd played like that in a league game and lost it would be much less impactful.

[RobLambert]

1 hour ago, Michael Bates said:

Being all but eliminated from the competition makes it a tougher pill to swallow. If we'd played like that in a league game and lost it would be much less impactful.

Each to their own but, although losing to Batley (again) is disappointing, getting knocked out of the 'curtain raiser to the ladies cup final' will never be as disappointing as losing any league game for me.

[RobLambert]

1 hour ago, sentoffagain2 said:

    Forgot Sheffield expect them to be above us challenging for a top 4 place.

8th then.  lol

[RobLambert]

4 hours ago, Fevrover said:

Didn't go today but was it that bad ? 3 tries to two to Rovers and its only the 2nd game so surely we will improve on today's showing ? 

Bang on.  Pitch was a leveller.  First half we couldn't have played worse.  Could have gone either way.  Should have put it to bed when we got on top.