My thoughts:

Goal line defence, excellent.

One on one defence still needs a little work.

Bringing the ball out of our 20, excellent.

Attacking options in the oppositon 20, poor. We rely on grubber kicks too much.

Long range kicking poor.

Players that stood out:

Armistead - The next "fans favourite" if we can leard to back him up he could be an important attacking weapon. I'm glad we got him and let Doran go, he will have the upper hand against Dorans game when we play Widnes.

Stanton - A real live wire when he comes into dummy half. Lots of pace and looks like he could do the business if we can get the ball out wide more.

Taylor - As put on more beef in the off-season. He now looks like he can break line, which he never looked like he could do before. Still hits as hard as ever in defence.

Durbin - Gives us another option at dummy half with an astute kicking game and very vocal.

Hill - New lease of life under Kelly. Seemed to go into his shell when Shaw was in charge but is now back to his old self.

Donlan - Solid as a rock at the back, still has enough pace to do damage at this level. Fullback or Centre? Still un-decided.

Reay - Came off the bench late in the game. Made some good runs down the left hand side (if only he had passed to his winger when one on one with the Wi*an defender, we would have scored) and defended well.

Marsh - Definate second row/loose forward option for this season. Hard to put down especially when he runs out wide. Could this be the wide running second rower we have missed since Sid caused havoc in Terzis first season.

Smith - Didn't look out of place on the wing against his more distinguished opposite number. Looking forward to seeing him develop this season.

my step dad and i went home at half times for a few reasons,got bored watching the game payed £14 for a disabled ticket where i bet pensioners will get in for 7 or 8 pound so cant affard 14 week in week out especially with the cost of living,paid for the worst hot chocolate drink ive ever tasted,plus got home for a decent game of football in the warmth,i predict this team to be lucky if they end up in the top 6,i await the critics lol

But what about the Negatives...........

did your step dad not get in free as your carer?

the laughing face was a clue get a sense of humour of your gona come on here pal.

Our defence on our line was truly fantastic at times, real hard work and a huge improvement from last week's failed sliding defence.

Main gripe is the lack of killer instinct whenever we were in Wigan's 20; I'm sure Watson contributes elsewhere on the park, but the bloke simply can't open up a defence. The grubber kick might work a couple of times a season in our league, but it's never likely to work against Wigan the first time around, never mind the fifteenth!

Exactly and it has to change.

I really enjoyed today and I dont think we will have as bad a season as some on here think. I'm sorry Fred but Ian Watson isn't the man to lead us round the field. I dont care what anyone says about him, his position is our weakest on the field at the moment. We need a scrum half that can take us forward and Ian doesn't do that. Looking at the two teams today we looked like lambs to the slaughter against those well toned muscle men. But our lads did us proud, they never really gave up. Even some Wigan fans behind me were applauding us for putting them under so much preasure. It was wonderfull when the north stand was in full voice (except that ridiculous flute crap), the noise was excellent. Stanton looksw like he could be a good signing. I think we will be lucky to keep Chris Hill if he keeps playing like he is but fingers crossed he wont take the bait. Lots of things I saw today has really wet my appetite for the coming season.
Come On You Leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeigh

On the subject of Chris Hill, anybody know how long he's got left on his contract? With the way his style of play has developed, I think he's definitely better used as an 'impact' sub rather than playing from the start.

Ace atmosphere in the North Stand for the last half hour or so.

Chris Hill does look like he`s back to his best, pretty sure he`s got 2 years left.

To be fair, that grubber did create repeat sets but you didn't break the cycle and it ended up quite comfortable to contain.

I think you need a quality halfback.

Repeat sets are great, but only when we have the ability to take advantage of them!

Trust me you need to play both sides of the pitch. It was comical.

Been saying it for ages.....we need a fast no7 this season with Watson from the bench to direct the team around when needed.

But we did..............