Away from the tonked thread started by people who haven't been to a game in years and have no clue what the hell there on about, let alone posting.

I thought last night was a good show. Yes we lost, but that was never a 18-6 game.

The defence again was world class, with plenty of people putting their bodies on the line. Hull scored three tries with all of them having an element of luck about them. The first one in the 47th minute of first half stoppage time, you could see what was going to happen as the scrum was being formed, with Long pointing and directing.
Just a shame that the bounce of the ball didn't go our way as Tansey who was onside this time just pounced before the dead ball line.

The second try game from a very lucky back pass, people sat near me were shouting for a knock on, but after watching the replay on the big screen, it was the correct by the officials to award the score to Tansey again. How Hull kept that ball alive, I'll never know.

The third was again, a kick into the in goal and luck again as Hull got it down.

If there is a way of saying this, I think to only be leading by 2-0 after 40 minutes of hard work was a tad harsh.
We were camped in the Hull half for a good 15 minutes, only for Reardon to go into touch before getting the ball down and then for Whitehead to knock on with the line open. If those two had gone in, at 14-0 with the awful playing conditions you could say . . . . Game over.

Halley was again world class, the quick dart had Hull at sixes and sevens as in three tackles we had gone 80m towards the FC line more than once.

Hull didn't make a break like this all game, our defence was outstanding.

The only problem what McNamara needs to work on is the support play and attack.
Again Menzies and Kearney making good breaks only for no one to be there in support to take the offload, you can see them looking around, but the support is nonexistant.

Despite the low score, I thought that the players did well considering the awful weather.

I'll also add that once again the first half was near faultless with what I counted, just three sets of six incomplete.

Conceding 22 points average per game is not a world class defence, Old Pal.

And remember we had our star player out and a sickness bug which is going through the camp.
I thought we played ok in the 1st half (45mins !!!!) but then looked out on our feet in the 2nd half and getting in to the scrum didn`t seem like a urgency to the bulls last night.
Im also glad macca came to his senses and dropped worrincey totally waste of time, doesn`t look interested and defending is dismal.

Good points there Clared, re: the bug going through the team and the urgency to form the scrum.

I think it showed just how much we were on our last legs, when it takes the 600 Bradford fans in the north stand to urge the team to form the quick scrum to halt the clock.

I would like to know why we played a 46 minute first half? I know the game kicked off at 20:03 but when Long converted the Tansey score, my clock was at 20:49 as the players left the pitch.

I can't remember Thaler calling time off once in that first half appart from the Hull scrum on the 10m with time up.

I don't want to blame Halley but maybe he could of kicked the ball over the dead ball line for a drop out instead of kicking it into touch.

First half we played the better Rugby League and like I say, we were very unlucky to still be leading by just two points as we reached the 45th minute.

By no way is it all doom and gloom.

I said at the start of the season that I would be happy with 50% going into the Leeds game at easter.
Beat Harlequins on Friday and we'll just do that.

just to the right of the big screen in the north stand at the kc, their is an electronic timer counting down from 40 mins at the start of play, when the ref stops the clock the timer stops meaning that nobody can question the the time keeper. when the timer hits zero the hooter goes, think all grounds have to display how long is left in the game now. also i think its harsh to say all hulls points were down to luck, it was a tough uncompramising game which hull deserved to edge IMO.

I started reading the other thread but got bored with a lot of negativity which I really didn't agree with. The scoreline does not tell the story of the game at all, so I would say to those who didn't see the game, comments on it being crap are largely irrelevant.

The big negatives were obviously the lack of creativity, but I think you need to put it into perspective. I'm not one for making excuses and usually think the ones that are made are complete rubbish. However if Orford's illness only put him out late in the week, you have to bear in mind that all week they will have trained for things that went through Ox. It's an entirely different situation to a player getting injured the week before, when you have a week to train around alternative solutions. If they trained all week with Ox as the main playmaker, then he drops out on the day or the day before, it ruins almost that entire week of training.

I know you can say they should have a back up plan and all that, but it's not as simple as that. Especially when a player is so key to your team as Orford is to ours.

To me, a lot of the negatives came purely from Orford's illness, so I'm going to focus on the positives.

I thought L'Estrange was excellent from dummy half. He constantly made yards straight from the ruck and it was undoubtedly our most dangerous area.

I also thought Reardon did well considering some quite awful service he got. How he didn't knock on 10 times in that game I'll never know, since every pass thrown to him was either to his feet, over his head, or to the floor 3 metres to the side of him. Yet he managed to claim every one of them and then occasionally make something of it.

Sheriffe's defence was very very good. He has improved x10 this year and he no longer looks like a weak link. On more than one occasion there was an overlap for Hull and Sheriffe managed to close down the man perfectly to stop the pass getting away. I honestly can't believe what a different player he is this year from the very average one he was last year.

Hi,
Sorry, but I don't know how a coach of a men's team can profess himself happy with his "boys" when they once again failed to score a try when it mattered! They don't need cheering up and mollycoddling-----they need shouting at and their s kicking!!

There's little wonder the terraces at Odsall are so sparcely populated nowadays. And it won't change until the board acquire the balls to sack Macbanana and get in a leader who wants to win. Basic thinking really but obviously beyond the testically-challenged Hood.

Come on you Bulls! Where are the Bulls of yesteryear? Start kicking your own s and get on with it .You know you can do so much better!

Yes...and it has been the answer for at least 2 years!

Faultless? They scored 2 points! If a haul of 2 points is "faultless" I'd hate to witness a less than perfect period of play.

lucky scores by Hull
not a 18 -6 game
Hull & Bradfords goal line defence was fantastic.
to be truthful Hull had a poor first half where we seemed to lack attacking ideas due to Bradfords defence, heavy rain throughout and the time allowed for holding down (both teams and it's spoiling the game)
second half Hull looked more lively and Bradford never really looked to threaten the Hull line.

i think the general slowing down of the play the ball by holding down is spoiling it for both teams as both teams seemed unable to get any momentum into their game, what Bradford fans must realise is that this season Hull have a very good pack and any team (wigan apart) will struggle against us in conditions like last night.

The holding down was a frustating issue last night but both team did it and thaler didn`t penalise the teams, another issue at the monment is the time that certain kickers take for the conversions its about time there was a set time to take them or lose them.

Well done to Hull though !

The one negative last night for me was the constant holding down by both teams allowed by the ref. At least he was consistant in this rule but it does spoil the game for me.

A tough physical battle between two good teams.

I think the same about drop-outs. There should be a time limit rather than ambling about for 5 minutes before taking them.