Looked a tough day at the office....?

yer we went good first half held them out well but fell away second half and took wrong options in attack lacked a cutting edge

Thanks for that - so pretty much how last season ended then with a bit of tackling thrown in?

Good first half, but once they threw on some big guns in the 2nd half, coupled with more of our young lads on in the second half it was always going to be a big ask.

Positives for me were the goal line defence, particularly in the first half, and I and also thought that Luke Ambler showed up very well in his first game of the season.

What the second half did highlight for me, with Muzza not coming back on in the 2nd half, and Gaz Moore not playing through injury, was the lack of quality in our halves. It may upset the Ben Johnston fan club, but in my opinion he is just not good enough. He may have a step and a scoot over 40 yards, but realistically what else does he bring? He certainly has not got the ability to take us around the park. And Morgan Punchard - who I do think has a promising future, didn't really get the chance to shine.

Just to rub salt into the wounds as well - I thought Danny Craven bossed it for Widnes in the second half - running with the ball and taking on the line, a couple of try assists and a great kicking game.

But I certainly didn't come away with the 'Doom and Gloom' feeling. With the majority of what you would call 'first teamers' playing in the first half, we gave it a good crack.

People need to remember that our playing budget is just over £200k this year, so not the greatest. But thanks to the hard work and diligence of the board of directors we at least have a solvent club, set on reasonably firm foundations compared to a lot of the other clubs at our level. It could have been so different this season - for all the wrong reasons, if the board hadn't been so.... careful and unified shall we say. And the players that stayed need to take lot of credit taking the pay cut and for backing themselves to get it back if we make the top 4.

It wouldn't take much for the fortunes of the club to change - just a little bit of luck over the course of the season and who knows!!

Up The Fax!!!!

Agree with a lot of that Mike! The 2nd half was tough on Jonno and Morgan because we didn't have much of the ball and the idiot in the middle refused to let the game flow. The bottom line is that they got a run out against a decent team that was always going to beat us. Anyone who went expecting anything different needs to wake up. like you say, a little luck is all we need and the right duel reg players at our disposal to strengthen the 17 that play.

Good posts also thought we struggled to get going with the refereeing as the penalty count as far as I could see was 15.0 to Widnes,I know it was only a friendly but surely that is making a mockery of the game.One thing we did get was plenty of defensive practise and we held up well in the first half.Will have done us good to blow the cobwebs off and hopefully a better show against Salford.

Is Will Sharpe injured. Who would you prefer on the wing him v Salty.

The penalty count looks massively in Widnes's favour was this down to the ref or are we actually undisciplined.

First half looked close where did we go wrong in he second half.

Missed this one but looking forward to next week

I didn't go to the game, but the struggle of a small and inexperienced squad will be the basis Of our season, unless we get some class on loan or DR, but I'm not sure if we have the cash for these players.

Please remember that we are only solvent due to our £500k plus debt being guaranteed by existing and past directors (mainly past I'm told) . We only have three present directors, who are committed and help keep the club going but they are not "rich" people, I wonder if they have the drive to take us forward.

The only way the club can move forward is to generate significant more funds and I don't see any sign of this happening.

In recent years we have spent the Halifax sponsorship, investment from past directors, prize money from two years ago and we are nothing other than a part time mid-table (at best) team. This is not very appetising but reflects the 2017 season and the performance in the two friendly games supports this.

bit harsh considering the team against fev was mostly reserves

I stand to be corrected,but i believe Sharp copped a big ban (5 games ?) which includes friendlies.

Forgot about that from the incident against the seagulls

correct

6 match ban originally, reduced to 4 matches on appeal. Assuming friendlies do count, then he'll be available for selection after the Fev game.