From a Fev perspective - surprised at how straightforward that was bar that ten-minute spell in the 2nd half, although two of our youngsters were at fault for the two tries they generally held up quite well. I thought Widnes played a lot better at our place in the 1895 Cup than you did today though obviously the three or four that were missing from that game would have made a big difference.
As other have said Ferres (in particular) and Davies got in Lawton's head in the first half and those 5 turnovers certainly didn't help Widnes. He played a lot better in the second half apart from the misread for Brown's second try.
I wouldn't disagree that Fev got the rub of the green on one or two decisions though most of the forward passes the crowd was screaming for in the second half just looked flat passes to me (I did think Hardcastle's pass to Gale for our final try looked forward though). Conversely the decision that threatened to change the game came when Dagger was penalised when in possession (and on the first tackle) having almost broken away, I'd like to see that again as I was screaming for a yellow card for what looked an obvious professional foul myself, Widnes scored on that set and the game briefly changed there.
Nu Brown got the OurLeague man of the match but I would have given it to Gareth Gale who repeatedly churned out 15-yard runs from first receiver.
Stating the obvious but think your play-off prospects depend on luck with injuries, there's a big drop-off from Clough/Farnworth in particular to their replacements and although we had 12 players unavailable today according to Webster and were barely able to field 17 we had enough quality in what we had on the field to get by.
Outweighed in the pack and they worked out the riddle of Lawton and took the ball off him.
We need to be more clinical when we strike but get too excited.
Is Jack carrying a knock, he's not as composed as he was early in the season?
Need to calm down and concentrate on holding our position in the league. There are still games to play for others as well as us.
Finnigan has just said Spedding should be back for the London game in 2 weeks, Clough should also be back and Farnworth might be back. So a player that may or may not be back for the London game in 2 weeks has been named in the last 2 squads against Halifax and Featherstone.
From a player welfare perspective playing with 15 players for virtually the whole game and asking the same lads to back up week in week out, its not great.
As a non season ticket holder this year, that was my first home game and based on the whole experience I really worry how we will retain fans let alone attract new ones.
Fev in control from 1st minute, we are far to soft in defence the least fev made in a full set was 48m most sets they went 70-90m we managed about 30-50 average. If we stepped up more than 2m in defence we would not be getting dragged back 10m of there wingers. Utter rubbish again.
From a Fev perspective – surprised at how straightforward that was bar that ten-minute spell in the 2nd half, although two of our youngsters were at fault for the two tries they generally held up quite well. I thought Widnes played a lot better at our place in the 1895 Cup than you did today though obviously the three or four that were missing from that game would have made a big difference. As other have said Ferres (in particular) and Davies got in Lawton’s head in the first half and those 5 turnovers certainly didn’t help Widnes. He played a lot better in the second half apart from the misread for Brown’s second try. I wouldn’t disagree that Fev got the rub of the green on one or two decisions though most of the forward passes the crowd was screaming for in the second half just looked flat passes to me (I did think Hardcastle’s pass to Gale for our final try looked forward though). Conversely the decision that threatened to change the game came when Dagger was penalised when in possession (and on the first tackle) having almost broken away, I’d like to see that again as I was screaming for a yellow card for what looked an obvious professional foul myself, Widnes scored on that set and the game briefly changed there. Nu Brown got the OurLeague man of the match but I would have given it to Gareth Gale who repeatedly churned out 15-yard runs from first receiver. Stating the obvious but think your play-off prospects depend on luck with injuries, there’s a big drop-off from Clough/Farnworth in particular to their replacements and although we had 12 players unavailable today according to Webster and were barely able to field 17 we had enough quality in what we had on the field to get by.
12 players unavailable? See, that is the difference. If we had 12 unavailable we’d struggle to put a seven-a-side team out!
Clough, Farnworth, Jewit and Tomkins all in all a big part of of our firepower missing and it showed. Had we had any two of those four then it would’ve been a different game!
Score massively flattered them. .
You were watching a different game to me. Fev outgained Widnes massively from the start to the finish and barring a 10-minute spell completely dominated the game, no?
Clough, Farnworth, Jewit and Tomkins all in all a big part of of our firepower missing and it showed. Had we had any two of those four then it would’ve been a different game!
Against the team we put out today, you're probably right.
Yet again a weak bench and lack of forwards hurt us: a recurring nightmare which must be addressed if we are to do anything of note next year.
We have some players who are not good enough either and they need to be moved on.
That being said, against one of the best 2 sides in the division the effort was clearly there and we defended well for an hour.
Our backs are very hard working but I did count at least 3 sets in the second half where neither of our specialist Props drove the ball up and they were on at the time.
Don’t know why people keep asking about Jewitt, been explained plenty of times on here that he was signed by Sheens as more as backroom staff than as a player.
I can't remember the Club actually explaining that Jewitt was signed only as backroom staff. If so, what does he actually do? Has he been seen at games sitting next to Finnegan?
Perhaps with the break for the CC final, the Club may update us on the position with Tomkins and Jewitt. If the plan was to have Tomkins back for the play-offs, the plan is not working! As for Jewitt, if he was not signed as a player, why is he still shown in the squad on the Widnes site. Did anyone tell Finnegan that Jewitt was not signed as a player?
Matt Cook has shown he is still a decent player at this level and I thought Hulme did wel todayl. I would stick with Else and Hulme to interchange at hooker, but we cannot continue with a weak bench and need to get Clough (and Jewitt) back or look out for a few props on loan.
Even with 12 players missing today, Featherstone showed why they are unbeaten and probably favourites over Toulouse for promotion. We would have accepted today's result after the Toulouse drubbing and previous results, but perhaps a few wins and decent performances raised our hopes. I thought we would be capable of reaching the play-offs, but it now look we are comfortably in mid-table with little or no chance of the play-offs.
I hope the club have started planning for 2022 and will have learned from the lack of numbers this year, particularly in the forwards.
Score massively flattered them. .
You were watching a different game to me. Fev outgained Widnes massively from the start to the finish and barring a 10-minute spell completely dominated the game, no?
Yes but that spell at 10-14 became a 10 mins spell....and not longer as we forced they game with silly plays....and not from the youngsters but the older ones who should know better. With a bit of composure there thigs might have been different as Fev looked tired.....but...as ever game intelligence lacking.
Fev also did their homework...turned Lawton ,who has been a strength recently into a weakness. Like Fax last week exploited our slowness in defence at ptb....
Biggest fault...set restarts. The very first one ....obvious push oppo at ptb... opps set restart...speccies moan at the ref ...why ??? it was obviuos ...most didnt even seen to know why a set restart. I dont think we have adapted well to the covid rules. It should suit as smaller ,quicker forwards should give the oppo problems. The obsession with props ??? ............someone explain ...the rules as they are mean they are less relevant than ever...
I too must have been watching another game LL.
Yes, Featherstone were the better team and deserved their win; however, Widnes were not dominated apart from 10 minutes. Despite Fev having some experienced and talented players, Widnes put on a good show with their depleted squad but failed to make the most of their chances.
What is hurting us is sufficient reserve capacity, in terms of experience and numbers. It looks very unlikely that we have enough spare cash to bring reinforcements in any time soon, and that is a worry.
Lack of certainty regarding next years funding doesn't help plan future expenditure or help in making funds available this year.
Finally whilst accepting that Fev were better on the day the refereeing left much to be desired tbh. Blatant knockons, lying on etc all unpunished an massively in Fevs favour were factors in their win.
I thought Ferres was lucky to stay on the field. He constantly hit Lawton in the tackle, pulled Lawton back as he was about to catch the short kick off (how the officials missed this I will never know - but they missed many other Fev mistakes, all to their favour!) and the tip tackle alone deserved a yellow card. It wasn't even put on report.
A real pity, the game would have been closer and more interesting had there been the proverbial level playing field.
What is hurting us is sufficient reserve capacity, in terms of experience and numbers. It looks very unlikely that we have enough spare cash to bring reinforcements in any time soon, and that is a worry. Lack of certainty regarding next years funding doesn’t help plan future expenditure or help in making funds available this year. Finally whilst accepting that Fev were better on the day the refereeing left much to be desired tbh. Blatant knockons, lying on etc all unpunished an massively in Fevs favour were factors in their win.
A cheque for £42K has just been given by VIQI.
Quite agree about the standard of refereeing.
Our backs are very hard working but I did count at least 3 sets in the second half where neither of our specialist Props drove the ball up and they were on at the time.
This isn't anything new as we've been doing it for the last 6 or 7 games. It probably helps conserve energy in the forwards which was a major prob early in the season but it means we become 1 dimensional most of the game.