It was the only soddin thing he saw all match though.

Good point hadn't thought of that.

That penalty against Flynn defineately turned the game our way,it lifted the team and the crowd.Batley hardly got into our twenty afterwards.I thought we closed the game out well and prevented any danger of conceding a late winning score.Cracking game and atmosphere.

could the club actually being taking 2/300 off this week's gate and adding it to the Leigh one?

We always struggle at home against them. I couldn't see us scoring until Penny's bit of magic. Pickersgill and Kavanagh played well, and Paddy kept making plenty of those line clearing runs he's good at.

Logan Tomkins injured?

Awful in the first half.

Forwards gave us no platform which is possibly why I'Anson & Coyle were a little ineffective. Magraff was barely making a dent in their line in attack. The disallowed try was a definite forward pass - we were sat in line with it.

The Paddy Flynn incident galvanised the team and crowd. After that Kav and Picks monstered the Batley pack with some brutal treatment. Great game to watch but we were very lethargic and they were more up for it for the most part.

Tough defeat for the Bulldogs - good win for us.

I agree, how many times was Coyle the last man to get back into the defensive line? He's just not quick or fit enough IMO - In SL we'd get killed in and around the ruck if we've got players struggling to get back into the line.

He does make the odd good run, but he was totally ineffective for large parts of today. Seems to me like he usually plays ok when we're on top but when we're in an arm wrestle or under pressure you don't see too much from him.

About the inside balls, IMO I'anson also refused to pass it out wide, instead either trying to go himself or trying the inside ball. In once incident Leuluai was held short by about 4 or 5 defenders out wide on the left - all we had to do was get it out wide to the right. A couple of players had the right idea but as soon as the ball got to I'Anson the attacked was stopped dead in its tracks. In the space of about 2 or 3 minutes he wasted 3 or 4 good chances by making the wrong choices.

Not chas' best game for us, not by a long shot.

Awesome game, proper nail-biter.

I know we were awful at times but we did enough to win against a difficult opponent and if we had played that side earlier on in the season we would have lost it by a considerable margin. We have the knack of winning now and that counts for a lot.
The reaction at the end of the match tells you how much the players from both sides put into it. Batley devastated and out on their feet. Widnes players jubilant and celebrations galore.

On the subject of Coyle... He did find it tough but then he wasn't rotated at all in this game and it was potentially one of the most intensive we've played for a good couple of weeks.
If Tomkins had been available and Coyle had been spelled he probably would have been more available in the last twenty. It shows just how important it is to have 2 hookers interchanging.

Both sets of players were shattered at the end. Handorth and Mennall looked physically tired and I'Anson was struggling towards the end also. I even thought young Mellor looked tired and that dropped pass seemed to be borne out of tiredness and lapsed concentration (not a great pass but still catchable). Batley really moved us around the park and you could see it sapping the players energy in muggy conditions. But absolutely the joke decision by the ref (considering the penalty given against Chaz just three minutes earlier) caused us to wind up again both on and off the pitch.

Also worthy of a mention.. how hilarious was it to see Handforth miss the final kick by about the same margin he was trying to steal from under the ref's nose. Thankfully the Ref was well up to it on that occasion and wasn't go to give him the easy yards so well done for not being conned there. Handforth remonstrating with the ref at the end was delightful to watch also.

Well done Widnes.

Pickersgill made sure the ref knew Handforth was trying pinch a metre or 2.

I still think that was decent reffing, how often would he have been allowed to nick those couple of yards. Spot on for the ref placing the tee himself like.

Though he was kind of making up for the fact he let Handforth bring it infield 10m from Flynn penalty!

Best thing he done all game was moving the kicking tee and rightly so, I thought he was very poor though.

Regarding Coyle on Sunday,didn't he take a heavy knock early on in the game? he looked a bit groggy when he got back in the line.

Yea quite a bad one too. If we had Tomkins / Lunt on the bench I doubt he would have played even half the mins once he came back!