Clearly we deserved the two points overall but whilst I thought we bossed the game for the first hour or so but after Flanagans stupid yellow card(it might have been red in my view) we seemed to panic and gave away two quickfire tries. However we then seemed to settle down again and tackled our way to a deserved victory.

Enjoyed the game, apart from Flanagan's ridiculous brainfart, which nearly cost us it. We looked to have gained a fast go-forward from somewhere, and our defence was back to something like for most of the game.

I thought we were at times unnecessarily caned by the ref, who kept us pegged back for long periods of the game, while both he and his linesmen seemed oblivious to Fax persistent offside at the PTB, and forward passes. Some of the offiseds, particularly on 1st tackle, were outrageous. One tap on the 20, we were first prevented from taking it, and then when we did, our player got tackled after 2 metres. No wonder the crowd was howling.

But when we did have possession, we were a traqnsformed side with Keyes running things, Ethan back where he belongs, and Hitchcox on the other side. I was highly impressed by Magrin's efforts, best game for us easily I think; Crossley was steady if not great, Peltier looked a beast when he came on. We actually looked threatening whenever we attacked, and played and scored some good stuff. Special mention for Webster, I'm not his biggest fan and he has been costing us, but didn't put a foot wrong today and had some good carries.

What exactly did George do? From where I was sat I say nothing untoward, and so was shocked that he was carded.

For me Pickersgill was solid in more areas than I expected. As said, a few positional errors but none which were costly. Some great takes especially the one that set Keyes free to nearly score. He does lack that pass though in the link up play.

Keyes was the difference today. That man organised us today. Hitchcox also made a huge difference out wide. For me Keyes and Milnes will be a great combination when it gets going!

Magrin had his best game for a while and Garside showed why he should be picked every game. We also missed Farrell last week but today he was solid.

Flanagan brain fart yet again. He’s been a good servant to us but end of year I’d look to offload and let Doyle have a run with Wildie and Hallas.

Lots of positives today!

]

Typical negative Bulls fan

Poor Old Pick gets marked in a very black and white manner!

He's got to stop letting the high ball bounce, once there was no player within 20m, but apart from that I thought he got involved, was in a couple of decent breaks, got back to help out in the first tackles of the set and crucially didn't look out of place. 6/10

I also though Lilley went well in the first 40 and both him and Keyes (who was by a country mile MoM) we're much closer to the line before making the pass than we have been for a long time.

Much better performance for the first 60 mins. More urgency in defence and attack. The return of Webster, Hitchcox, Farrell and Keyes made a huge difference.

Webster was great for us and really got stuck into the opposition. Farrell made loads of metres. Magrin was busy and worked his backside off. In particular I thought Hitchcox showed his class and what we’ve missed out wide. Neither DFJ or Grant would’ve scored those two tries.

Keyes was a relalation. Some actual direction and threat with ball in hand. Ok it didn’t all come off but for a bloke that’s been out so long it was great. Man of the Match for me with mentions for Garside too who had his best game in ages.

Flanagan’s trip was a total brainfart. Could’ve easily cost us the game. Pickersgill I thought had a mixed afternoon. First half I thought he was pretty good. Second half less so. Those two bombs where he inexplicably allowed the ball to bounce could have cost us the game. While having Ryan on the wing increases our strike power we actually look weaker at fullback.

For Fax I thought they were below par compared to what we’ve seen before. They could’ve snatched it but they were second best really. Nice to see Mitch Clark again who looked decent.

Maybe I was harsh but I think he really needs to take command more and gobble up those high kicks. That one in the first minute of the 1st half was criminal and could have easily resulted in a try. He just seems tenetaive regarding kicks, even one's bobbling on the floor he seems to allow it to bounce once more than he should making everyone in the stands nervous.

That said we looked much more balanced with him at FB and Hitchcox and Ryan on the wing. But with Ricketts showing good form in the reserves, I just didn't feel Pickersgill nailed the position and Kear might have been tempted to put Ryan or Hitchcox there.

By the way I thought we played a much better brand of rugby yesterday and scored some great tries. Watching Hitchcox's finishes back, they were class.

Also nice to see us give a bit to Fax for a change, especially Webster. How many times have we looked like little schoolchildren not being able to cope with Murrells screaming and just generally being intimidated by Fax. Once they they realised we were giving as much crap back, they looked average.

He did seem a bit reluctant to get underneath a few of the high kicks. You could tell from the trajectory he was nowhere near them. There was another occasion where the ball was kicked downfield and he and Ryan seemed to be leaving it to each other while it bobbled along. It just doesn’t inspire confidence. If I was an opposition coach I’d see kicking to Pickers as something worth trying over kicking to the wings where we look secure on both sides with Hitchcox and Ryan there.

On the plus side he cleared up some threatening grubber kicks very well.

Much as I like the lad I’m not sure he’s quite good enough to be our long term fullback.

Sadly, if he doesn't start commanding the high ball he'll quickly become the new Nathan Graham, which is a shame.

So would anyone trade these 2 league points for a win in the cup match instead?



I can't decide really. The day out in the semi would be nice. The d!ck!ng from Saints wouldn't be.

financially the cup win might have been better. In fact it surely would?

We're not going up and we're not going down, a dicking from Saints would be similar to the one we got from Wire a couple of years back, I'd guess - we'd get over it. It might not even be as big as the one we got from Wigan at Burnden park. Not that we were expected to win that either, of course, but we were in the same division.

I guess the truth is I could have lived with either way round (well, I'll have to, naturally...) It makes little difference, really, though maybe being in a semi might have stoked up even bigger unrealistic 'promotion expectations' than we have now, which would have resulted in even greater disappointment when it failed to materialise. Anyone want to play devil's advocate?

I mean realistically beating Fax now in the league means we have a chance at at Top 5 finish. What money foes that entail? Beating them in the cup would have guaranteed £100,000 plus surely? And even a ‘loss’ in the league we’d still only have a chance at Top 5. I’d take the Semi final. Especially when you include the day out for the long suffering fans.

Watching the Fax game back and Mick says there will be good news regarding Matty Storton in the next few weeks. So presuming he's signed a new deal which would be brill news. Whether Mick was suppose to keep that info to himself though.