Mr Bitter's at it again

I like that "Mr Bitter" is sticking.

Worth reminding why he is so bitter....

Quote: Mr Bitter "Now we all know that from 1987-1995ish Wigan dominated the competition in this country but perhaps a feat better than all that glory was denying that bitter man Garry Schofield from ever lifting a major domestic trophy. Their is no denying Schofield was a talented player, you have some talent to be joint holder of most caps for Great Britain but in the domestic game all he ever won was the Yorkshire Cup. And why was that? Because Wigan didn't play in that competition from winning a major domestic honour in his Hull days when he was on the losing side in the 1985 Challenge Cup Final. Three years later Schofield was now at Leeds and was DENIED by Wigan from winning the 1987-88 Challenge Cup. Schofield had already been DENIED from winning the John Player Trophy earlier that year when Leeds lost the final of that competition 15-14 at Central Park to St Helens (we'll forgive Saints for winning that one). So they will have been hurting when they travelled to Central Park for a Round 2 Challenge Cup tie. Schofield's hopes must have been high when he scored to help Leeds race into a 10-0 lead in just 12 minutes but Wigan soon fought back to lead 12-10. A spell of four tries in ten minutes would put Wigan in full command in what ended up a 30-14 victory. Kevin Iro (2), Andy Goodway, Brian Case, Richard Russell and Steve Hampson scored the tries with Russell (2) and Hampson (1) kicking the goals.

Schofield was further DENIED by Wigan in the 1989-90 Regal Trophy at the Quarter Final stage. Wigan had fought hard to draw 10-10 at Headingley despite Steve Hampson being sent off for a high tackle in the fifth minute as well as Andy Gregory missing the match with flu and Andy Goodway coming off injured with a dislocated finger. Henderson Gill scored a crucial try in that game which turned out to be his last match for the club. The replay at Central Park was 0-0 with 23 minutes to go when Wigan brought on a 17 year old called Bobby Goulding and played him at Hooker. In those 23 minutes he set up the only try of the game for Shaun Edwards and kicked two goals in an 8-0 success watched by 20,111 on a Thursday Night four days before Christmas.

Operation DENY Schofield continued later that season. The two sides were battling for the league title and they met at Central Park late in that challenge. It was the first of three matches left in the league season and into the game the table looked like this.....

1st Wigan - Played 23 Points 36 (Points Diff +343)
2nd Leeds - Played 23 Points 34 (Points Diff +334)

Clearly it couldn't be more tight and victory for Leeds here would give them a huge chance of winning the title at Wigan's expense. The match was played on a Tuesday Night but that didn't stop a huge crowd of 24,462 cramming into Central Park. This despite television coverage from British Satellite Broadcasting (a company that eventually merged into Sky) as well as Highlights on both Granada and Yorkshire Television.

Wigan took control of the game first half with two tries from Mark Preston plus three goals from Bobby Goulding putting Wigan into a commanding 14-4 half time lead. Leeds only points had come from two Colin Maskill penalty goals. Second half however saw Leeds fight back. A try from Cavill Heugh plus two more goals from Maskill left Wigan sweating but a penalty goal from Goulding gave them a bit of breathing space with a 16-12 lead. It was very tense but Wigan hung on for a massive victory that went a long way to sealing the title. The effort had seen quite a few injury casualties which resulted in a Good Friday hammering by 35-10 at St Helens three days later which gave Leeds hope going into the final round. Back at Central Park on an Easter Monday Wigan just needed a point against a Leigh side that needed to win to stay up. Oooh that must have been an evil day for the Leythers. They had to watch Wigan win the league in a 34-6 victory whilst themselves being relegated. In the end Leeds also lost at Castleford and Saints lost away at Widnes which met they had to travel to Bradford in the Premiership Semi Finals a week later rather than play them at Knowsley Road - so it was a glorious day all round for the Central Park faithful. A year later Garry Schofield's Leeds had a chance to deny Wigan another title but Wigan beat them 20-8. It wasn't at Central Park but I just thought I'd mention that.

1991-92 was another painful year for Schofield. He was DENIED from winning the Regal Trophy again with Leeds losing 24-0 in a final against Widnes which was played at errr Wigan. Then in the Premiership Semi Final Martin Offiah took the out of Leeds in a 74-6 hammering at Central Park. He scored 10 tries to annihilate our club record for tries in a match and also give Leeds a (still to this day) record defeat. Dean Bell (2), Martin Dermott and David Myers also scored with Frano Botica kicking 9 goals. Remarkably that feat of 10 tries in a match was equalled just four months later by Shaun Edwards in a Lancashire Cup tie at Swinton - records which still stand today.

In 1993-1994 Wigan DENIED Schofield with a 26-16 Wembley victory over Leeds. Wigan probably had made Schofield suffer enough but Wigan showed no mercy in the 1994-1995 Grand Slam season. They DENIED him the league title by finishing 7 points clear of Leeds at the top of the table, then DENIED him at Wembley for the second year in a row (30-10) and last but not least was the 1995 Premiership Final at Old Trafford. Now it would have been ironic had Leeds won that final because Schofield was injured but Wigan blitzed them 69-12 for what is still a record Cup Final success.

By the last winter season in 1995-1996 Schofield was on the last chance saloon to get one over on Wigan but he was DENIED, DENIED and DENIED again! The first denial was a minor one - the Charity Shield played in Dublin which Wigan won 45-20. Leeds were once again Wigan's main title rivals but the title was well slipping away when in mid January Leeds drew Wigan at Central Park in the Regal Trophy Semi Finals. Wigan won 38-18 with tries from Gary Connolly (2), Inga Tuigamala, Kris Radlinski, Henry Paul and Jason Robinson. Paul added 7 goals. The title was eventually won by 8 points with Wigan beating Leeds 34-20 in the final match of the season at Central Park.'"