A loss is a loss.

Another early try conceded by London and York appeared camped in our end for a lot of the first half. I get the impression when teams move the ball, we become easier to penetrate, beyond the obvious it becomes more of a one man on man situation. I think it’s more to do with the fact that our middle defense is the strength and elsewhere we don’t look particularly strong.

A turnover on the second tackle on our own 22 (knock-on perhaps) set up York for a try.
York’s high kicks to our backs were much more challenging than most our ours from Siti who played scrum half. Siti’s “grubber” kicks on fifth tackles were pretty poor from my perspective.

Bienek played limited minutes (presumably due to having just recovered from injury) but to me still looks our best player.

Walker showed quality, but otherwise was adequate.

A desperate ankle tap pevented a 70 yard Macani try

I told my family that on the last tackle if you kept the ball in hand it was always worth taking a risk to recycle. I’m having second thoughts. Ulberg nearly got in the corner, did really well to stay in bounds and tossed the ball back up the line. It could have ended in a 95 yard try, although I still think it was worth it. It was a warning though. A useless Siti kick inside the 22 and York ran the length of the pitch, some good passing and a try.
As 60 minutes approached, York continued to dominate and I was waiting for the flood gates to open as London tired. At this point, in some respects it was London’s worst home performance of the year.

Then it all changed

London pushed forward, Leyland was instrumental spreading the ball and London looked a real threat. The trys came, as did opportunities for more. Macani couldn’t hold onto a Walker pass for a try in the corner. Latu broke from our 22. Didn’t have the pace but did well got to York’s 22 until a poor kick into the middle gave up possession. I think this break was from a turover. If so we had the full set to use if he’d been more composed.

Siti converted our fourth try with the running clock at 80. It had to be held as no tee available. The chap carrying it was limping and didn’t set off across the pitch until Siti was about to kick. A player had to hold the ball for him. In that situation shouldn’t somebody sprint over with the tee to at least give the option.

Siti checked the time with the ref whilst lining up the kick, so knew we had one last chance. Kick-Off caught inside the 22, but as we looked for one last big play, a long pass across the field was judged forward and time expired before the restart.
London dominated the last 20 minutes which is a massive plus considering the season to date. But in the same as the Bradford match was closer than the scoreline, today wasn’t as close as two points. Far too many mistakes.

Parata was MOM. New boy Bourouh looked very effective off the bench. Williams made a number of good gains. Curran looked quite influential in the last 20 minutes.

I haven’t really worked out the Centre position yet. How much is it an extenion of the forwards? How much is it an extension of the wingers? Along with a quality player in the halves (as I say Leyland stepped it up late on today) and an extra big forward, Centre looks the next place to upgrade. Hopefully Ferreira will be back. Siti might be a good option. Latu and Palumbo look good squad option there, but don’t look first choices. With no backs on the bench, and Palumbo moving to the backs, looks like we are a bit short there.

Really enjoyed the fight back and credit due there. But much work to do still.

Yep, this is something they can build on IMHO, and probably more important than the the loss is the fact it sounded a great game, London were competitive all game, and almost pulled off the great escape at the end of the game.....

This is what will get the fans back in, now for the Bradford game (which I agree should be back close to 1500)
[*] Get the south stand open
[*] Get MyPie and the street food vendors in place, Bradford will probably bring 400-500 fans
[*] Get Buck (and Dusty) back, and in the fans zone with the Kids
[*] Kids stuff in the Fans zone

We finally have something to build on, so please London Please make the most of this....

As seen at AFC Wimbledon, attendances are a tricky topic. Are they recording tickets sold or people in the stadium? I'd always assumed the latter but not so sure now.

Before the match today I could see circa 700 tickets sold. Add onto that the corporate tickets purchased that aren't visible on the site, and any tickets bought last minute or at the ground, then as a minimum your high 700's as a starting point. So not too far off the quoted number.

Like BigTime it doesn't feel quite the 900 level, but it's hard in a stand holding over 4,000 (including corporate levels) to get a real feel with the crowd only all small percentage. My gut feeling is the crowd figures aren't being artificially increased, but the big question is how are they compiled?

And here's an interesting one. The capacity of the stadium, would you believe it, includes seats such as the team bench

Losing 6 games on the spin is, of course, rubbish but this was an entertaining game. There was some skill displayed by Leyland and Parata in particular and some physical stuff from Bienek and others. There were a few breaks (which we weren’t able to finish off) but I think there was enough there to bring back some of the new attendees. There do appear to be some new faces and some younger ones. It should also be said that there were more from York than last year although that wouldn’t be difficult so the new stadium thing is a draw (this season). I wonder what they make of it.

Yes I’m not pushing the attendance point too hard as I’m not a professional crowd assessor but it didn’t feel like 50% more than Bradford although who knows what is going on in corporate. If they count stewards our attendance could be pushing 1500!

I counted 600 at about 9pm here, so 8am your time.I'll take it that all the 903 declared were in the ground watching the game, but I suspect those responsible for announcing the crowd numbers have an awful lot invested in this move delivering.



Not sure about the restriction of movement in the Cherry Red, but when I attended games, it was pretty easy to "view' the corporate area and see how busy it is. At Brentford, Stripes bar had a limit of 500 and in those days, Gold Members only was the rule, but if it wasn't too busy, everyone was let in. The Kings bar was a free for all to start with at the stoop, then it became a closed shop and numbers decreased but I never had an issue getting in on a general admission ticket, then we shifted across the pitch and again, it was a closed shop until number again dropped off. Only ever attended the last SL game at The Hive so can't comment there, same at Trailfinders except I did "mistakenly wander in" at the Wakefield game in 2018 to see fewer than 50 people just before KO, including the visiting team tables (2x10) and Hughes Table (another 10).

The club have claimed "only a few places left" a number of times in regards to the corporate area, but have yet to publish any photographs of said area with any of the "key guests" mingling......this to me speaks volumes, but I am happy to be proven wrong.
From the club site advertising corporate hospo. rlThe next Home Game is Widnes on the 30th of January and you can purchase your Hospitality Tickets hererl

Is there room for a band in "the pub"? Some of the better Broncos post match stuff happened at the Stoop when they had a decent covers band. This is where we will grow the rank and file......22 quid for a ticket is OK if there's a party afterwards.

In the Pub there is not enough room for a band, but in the summer it would be possible put one outside. If that were allowed.

Mate...we need to bottle and sell you . You're a newbie, who has take to the game like a duck to water (we just need to work on your shouts of 'forward' and "gerr'em onside", buy you a flat cap and a whippet and up your ref bashing after a loss
If the club ever get around to a programme (Bradford Bulls would be a perfect test with a print run of 500), they should get you to write a piece for it...

Every home game should've been an "event".....Bradford will bring the biggest away contingent of the year.

April 3rd 2010 Apple introduced the I-pad.I'd be looking at promoting their 3 months free apple TV offer & getting them to give away some I-Pads in return for Matchday sponsorship.....Bring back the half-time on pitch competition, hire some bloody cheerleaders, get Buck'nDusty back, put up a marquee outside the bar? for a Band
Other "prizes" can include free upgrade to corp hospo for your next game, game day mascot, replica shirt, etc etc.....

Bradford should be a 1,500 attendance......with a lot of effort it could be 2,500+.......let's see what the club actually do to push this game hard.

Tough proverbials today lads (and maybe lasses). Reading Smithers' post, almost felt that Bongser had been there (make the attendance 904).

Loved his head scratching over centres. Yup, this party has never been sure either even on the occasions when he was required to play as one.

York twitter feed has interviews with both the coach and a player about the performance straight after the game as well as a video of them celebrating i the changing room.
we have a picture of the final scoreboard.
During the game, loads of content and updates.....
I get the impression there are Zero F^$ks given by anyone at the club anymore and that is squarely at the feet of the CEO now.....it's unacceptable in this modern era!

The atmosphere inside the ground was good! quite a few new faces!