I think its only us two that are seeing houghtons inclusion is killing us off , watch the first half back and watch how many tomes hes nowhere near the play the ball, looked like his head wasnt in it today, if thats the case then he needd to do the decent thing and call it a day.

Jebson and balmforth in please let the young lads grow together

That's a real shame, he has been a rare shining light.

There's something to build on for you guys after a decent 2nd half display.

Jack Charles looks a great prospect and Nu Brown was much better at 9. Surely even Tony Smith can see that now?

You defended determinedly for the first 15 minutes and most of the second half. I don't think you are fit enough to do it all game with Tony's easy does it approach to training which was described by Jake Clifford as 'p**ss easy'.

HT of 28-0 anything could have happened but you ended up achieving respectability.....just.

Give over Des. Stop being so magnanimous in victory. It's party time on Holderness Road so get the Stella out and join the street party

Give over Des. Stop being so magnanimous in victory. It's party time on Holderness Road so get the Stella out and join the street party

It was scheduled before todays game, i heard.. it was quite badly damage

Rovers poor goal kicking (should have been 42) and our second half enthusiasm has probably kept uncle Tony in the job for another week I think. Smith does need to be held accountable for the decision to give Houghton the 9 shirt at the start of the season and make him captain, if he was a squad player / bench hooker then fine, but it's been a massive mistake by Smith to make him captain and flog him each week

As I've already said

Ok my take. This squad isn't good enough for top 6. But a lot better than where we are. We look better without Houghton. Brown to start 9. For whatever reason we played with passion 2nd half. Balmforth if fit needs to be given a chance. Pack shows green shoots of being competitive. Smith tries but isn't good enough. I would try Charles Hoy in the halfs. Litten FB till Walker back. Martin still impressing me.

As I mentioned a little earlier, we can't be relegated, and we clearly are not going to be challenging for the play-offs, so we may as well try to make the best of the bad hand we've dealt to ourselves.
We may as well use the situation to take a look at young players to see who has potential, who could possibly be part of the plan in the seasons to come, rather than flogging the same set-up in a forlorn hope that we might scrape enough wins to sneak sixth (which clearly is not going to be happening).

Injuries/suspensions notwithstanding, obviously, think TS would be better served going with something along the following lines for the rest of the season.

1: Walker/Litten
2: Macintosh
3: Scott
4: Sutcliffe
5: Martin/Tindall
6: Hoy
7: Truman/Charles/Smith
8: Ese
9: N. Brown/Smith
10: Pele
11: Ashworth
12: Staveley
13:Sao

Subs:
J. Brown
Lane
Balmforth
A.N.Other

Play everyone in their accepted positions and, given a bit of energy and enthusiasm with hopefully a coherent game-plan, we should at least see an improvement in performance with hopefully the odd win here and there to gladden our spirits a touch!

The players named above represent the best we have right now, and that situation is unlikely to change this year so we might as well try and make the most of it. There was the odd sign in the second half today that there is a competitive side, at least, somewhere in there. It's Smith's job as coach (if he is indeed to be staying in place) to at least make us a respectable side turning out each week until the end of the season.

All we, as fans, want to see is some pride in the shirt and some signs that we have hit the bottom and we have at least changed direction in an upwards motion. The mood around the club will be a good deal more positive if we can see even these small indicators of progress.

Said earlier it no coincidence we looked totally different as soon as he went off the field. Our energy seemed to lift along with the speed & temp we were playing at. Brown is so much better as a 9 than a half and is a far better option/fit than Houghton. The continuation by Smith to have Danny at 9 at all costs and to then flog him for 80mins does far more harm than good. Charles also looks a good prospect and better option for the halves and he showed more creativity in the game than we’ve seen all season. We also saw more from the forwards with Brown at dummy half in place of Danny and that wasn’t the only improvement.
I know one player doesn’t make or break a team alone but it’s quite concerning seeing such a big change for the better in the the players almost so soon after Houghton went off.

I’ve said it for a while that Houghton as great a servant as he has been it’s one season too far for him. He should have been a squad player and we should have tried Balmforth far more than we have. Instead we again flog him for 80mins even trying to do it when he’s struggling with his hamstrings. He is clearly not doing anything as Captain as we see the same from him as we did last time when chips are down so is his head and he isn’t saying anything. He used to be able to lead by what he did but those days are long gone.

I admire his loyalty to the club but going round again was a mistake on his and the clubs part.

Im not blaming Danny either as it’s the experienced Coach that just seems to think it works when it obvious to anyone it just isn’t working and hasn’t for a few years.