Ali, Marinao, Wood and Kirmond were the stand outs for me

Agreed, Ali was my MoM

I'm not sure what Mathers has to do to silence some of the jokers who call themselves fans - the bloke put in a good shift tonight in a poor team - he never missed a catch, carried the ball well and got leathered on several occasions.

Thought Ali had his worst game of season tonight Mariano my man of match.

Toss up between Big Frankie and Kirmo for me - stand-outs in an overall poor performance.

Some one must have missed Ali flying in and knocking the man down a few times and him geeing the others up.It was a toil tonight but always would be the amount of holding down Widnes got away with.

Mathers made a couple of poor attempts at tackles but his positional play for kicks was spot on.

I thought mathers played well. He missed a couple of tackles but i think every other player on the field missed tackles aswell.

The most worrying thing for me is the way week after week foxy comes in off his wing when defending leaving a big gap. What happened to man on man marking we need to play smarter.

Benny had a shocker tonight, poor plays which isnt like him.

Also Amor looked a little uninterested last night made a few mistakes and didnt drive ball like he usually does. Maybe all this Hull move talk has unsettled him, also on the lap of honour he wasnt really smiling or applauding the fans like other players were

Best player for me last night was Danny Kirmond, followed closley by Andy Raliegh.

Mathers is a decent fullback and I would be happy to see him stay his tackling does let him down but its never being the best part of his game

Mather had a good game tonight, mopped up well at the back and brought the ball out very well, give the guy a break !

Mathers had a good game last night and apart from the St Helens away game he has been pretty consistant all season, I would be happy to see him sign a new contract with us

didn't do himself any favours with Widnes first try and also the one they fluffed (seemed a carbon copy) but he made up for it with some very good takes under pressure and relatively decent attack.

I suppose it all comes down to what you want from the fullback, do you want a plodder who is solid, reliable and unspectacular a la Briscoe, Field, Blaymire or do you want somebody with flair and who poses a genuine attacking threat but prone to the odd brain fart like Webb as was or Mathers? You pays your money and you takes your choice.

Mathers had a dodgy start but recovered well to have a good game. He's never been able to cover tackle so I don't really know why anyone would be surprised when he came up with a powder puff effort on Hanbury for their first try. His strength though has always been going forward and its been a while since we've had a fullback like that.

I thought our bench players were our 4 best last night. Wilkes and Mariano both hit the line well and Johnson got through a load of work. Wood made an impact which is exactly what you are looking for. Ali was great with ball in hand but i still think we need to spell him more. There was a time just before half time where he was badly blowing and missed 6 tackles on the bounce. Ellis was great first 20 and with regards Mathers, jeez people. He missed a one on one for there first try and from then on was one of our better players. Come on people give him a break if we had managed to wrap Winterstein up in the first place he wouldnt have had to make that tackle, why no blame for the right side defence?

Amor and Cockayne were well below what we have come to expect, but hey, everyone has them at some point and its times like that when you need others to step up.

All in all it was one of those games where we didnt play well and in the past would have lost. Winning these sorts of games is what happens when your confidence is up.
Full credit to Widnes, i thought they were vastly improved on what i have seen of them during the season and they were clever enough to play the ref far better than we did. Defensively they were decent and with the introduction of a few more quality players (Brown etc) i think they could be joining us, Hull Kr, Bradford etc in the battle for the lower play off spots next year.

No arguments with Wood getting MoM. Thought Wilkes had a faultless game and made good yardage in nearly every carry. Mariano, Johnson and Kirmond worthy of a mention in despatches.
Rhys Hanbury is a class player and makes many a fullback look inept. At least with Mathers he can give some input on the attacking front, the run through the gap that eventually led to Kirmonds try being a good example. He'll do for me.