Entertaining game and I thought for the most part we played well even if we were clinging on at times. But we did cling on and and we deserved to win the match at the end but for absolute howler of a decision from the officials. The defender who was 'obstructed' hadn't even got back on side, truly woeful call from the touchie who wasn't so keen to wave his flag for the blatant offside for Widnes 2nd try. Or the professional foul by Gelling that would of been 10 minutes in the sin bin on any other day.

Great effort with the makeshift side we had out but you cannot help feel sour at the way it ended. Not heard what Kear had to say but I imagine he will he saying that SL can keep Hewer and take the touch judge with him.
Let's hope it's our turn for the rub of the green soon because we're doing it tough at the moment!

Hmm, I actually don't have a problem with that obstruction call. If it was the other way around I'd want the penalty. Some of the outrage on twitter about it (especially from Gledhill) was way ott.

Interested to hear why? The defender hasn’t even made it back onto his own line and back onside for a kick off.

Even though Owens was offside he still wouldn’t of got to Minchella given how deep in the line he was and he was clearly on the outside edge of the man so personally I think it was a very tough call given the above.

Im going to ignore the result and post just a few general observations

At 12 nill i thought we were done. Unbelievable effort to get back in the game.

Oakes was great against a top drawer super league let alone championship centre.

Connor Farrell, what a tackle!! His best game so far.

Mickey Wood, outstanding, best game in a bulls shirt.

Mini looked back to his old self, may be harsh but i think hes been slow to get going. Great goal kicker as well, who knew!!

Storton has to be in the 17 every week. The kid is set for big things

One little grumble, dummy half service. 2 many balls on the deck

Proud as puch today with the performance. Considering so many men missing we are only going to get better.

Same again next week please

The guys an embarrassment and I cringe with the stuff he puts out as it. He makes himself, and the club and our fan base look bad others associate him as being our club and fanbase.

On the game I thought we were excellent and really had Widnes rattled. Can't comment on their second try as was behind the sticks. Seen the obstruction call, for me (admittedly biased opinion) it's wrong call. Crossley doesn't move, Minchella isn't near him and Owen just runs into him. One of those where he's looking to buy the penalty.

We started off poor with one man rugby while Widnes were playing some super stuff. When we realised we could pass, we looked good. Cracking game. Good atmosphere. We need a repeat performance next week. The need to set that the level we aim for every week and we'll be OK.

OTT?

The sickening comment is in relation to the effort and character showed by Bradford and leaving the game with nothing. I've seen the incident again and the wrong decision was made IMO.

I don't disagree with any of that.

I think Mick Gledhill is doing a good job with his commentry. I feel that he describes what is happening on the field as it is happening which is what i want from a commentator. He can be a bit excitable at times ,which is understandable , as he's commentating on the club he supports. I can't comment on his twitter posts as i've not read any..
I listened to the interview with JK on radio Leeds after Mick's programme finished. He was happy with the ref today and blamed the bad call on the touch judge.

I just think it's a consistent call when you look at all the other instances of obstruction we've had in SL games so far this year. Owens might be offside at the ptb but the ref hasn't penalised him for it so you have to play on (how many times are players offside at the ptb, dozens?).
Our two dummy runners walk a few yards forward and then stop in the defensive line. This is the key point and the reason why these calls are often given as obstruction. If you're going to make a dummy run you need to continue your run past the defensive line so that you don't interfere with play.
You might be right and Owens might not have been able to reach him anyway, but as soon as his run was impeded - even only slightly - then it's going to be flagged up as obstruction.

If that game is on Sky, the video ref rules out the try every single time.

Quote: Hopebull "I think Mick Gledhill is doing a good job with his commentry. I feel that he describes what is happening on the field as it is happening which is what i want from a commentator. He can be a bit excitable at times ,which is understandable , as he's commentating on the club he supports. I can't comment on his twitter posts as i've not read any.. I listened to the interview with JK on radio Leeds after Mick's programme finished. He was happy with the ref today and blamed the bad call on the touch judge.'" Here's my post-match interview with John Kear. https://audioboom.com/posts/7204488-bbl ... es-vikings

Quote: Hopebull "I think Mick Gledhill is doing a good job with his commentry. I feel that he describes what is happening on the field as it is happening which is what i want from a commentator. He can be a bit excitable at times ,which is understandable , as he's commentating on the club he supports. I can't comment on his twitter posts as i've not read any.. I listened to the interview with JK on radio Leeds after Mick's programme finished. He was happy with the ref today and blamed the bad call on the touch judge.'" Here's my post-match interview with John Kear. https://audioboom.com/posts/7204488-bbl ... es-vikings

Minchella’s try was a try in my view. The Widnes player is offside and even if you disregard this no Bulls player intentionally moves to obstruct him. His exaggerated dive show a man desperate to win a penalty because they were shot to bits in defence.

However, even if you think we were robbed, it’s worth remembering we were on the right end of an equally dodgy decision at home to Fev when Chisholm knocked on yet the ref gave the try. These things even out I suppose!

Amazing defensive effort again by the team, we did seem a bit camped in our own end at times but held pretty firm against a good attacking side. I think we might get a bit of confidence from the way we attacked too. With Lilley back in the side the kicking game would be much improved and we really missed that from him.

I had us down to lose by 14 or more so it’s good performance from us given the players missing. I feel much more confident about playing Leigh next.

Well I can't say I watch much SL but there seems to be a lot of common sense missing from officiating nowadays so it wouldn't be all that much of a surprise if this was true. I'm not sure SL is the correct comparison though, we play in the Championship and it would seem the rules are somewhat different on many areas. If you're looking for technicalities to disallow a try then I'm sure you make a case but common sense would say that defender had no chance of stopping that try and even less if he'd been onside. I would hope with the benefit of replay a SL ref would apply such common sense.

But it's been and gone and we have to take the rough with the smooth, it was another improved performance. We could really do with the points this week at home though, let's hope we have a few more options at 6/7 available. Should be a real humdinger of contest with Leigh.

I actually fancied us to get a result before Lilley was ruled out. In fact I had 20 notes on the result at 6/1 so I was even more cheesed off with the controversial end!

Can't comment on the 'offside try' or the obstruction as I was at the wrong end, but I was proud of the performance overall.

The two 'halves' played well and the major loss from not having our regular halves, for me was the kicking, where we seemed to give the ball back far too near our own goal line too many times. How the Widnes attacker who grabbed Fogging-Johnson round the neck whilst he was in the air didn't 'walk' is beyond me, disgraceful decision. Speaking of DFJ I'm more impressed each time I see him, he can't be much more than 60Kg but he's a real bundle of energy.

The team was my MOM, because that's what they are a team from 1 -17....and yes, I know they have squad numbers...

Agree with Bulliac on his DFJ point - his two performances have been very solid so far and he's good value for his inclusion.