I thought we played ok without being brilliant. I counted at least 5 times we knocked on in the 1st half when we were deep in the Fev half. I bet had Fev been given the same possession and field position we had, they would have scored mored than the 8 than we did.

I thought we started the game all wrong. Our 1st two sets we dinked little kicks on half way instead of getting fev down the other end of the field. We invited the pressure and it was no surprise to see Fev score with the 1st meaningful attack of the game.

All in all Fev looked a bit sharper than than us in both attack and defence. Hopefully though we'll get better as time goes on as I bet it was very hard to read players like Netherton, who was in his 1st game. Obviously the no9 position is one of if not the most important position on the field and it wasn't until the 2nd half that we were able to take the game to Fev. Reading the fev board on totalrl they have said we looked toothless and only scored when they went down to 12 men. Although I thought we scored our 2nd when they were back to 13, I do agree we looked a bit clueless at times and players were recieving the ball stood still not really knowing what to do next. The last point, I also thought we are also missing a big man in the middle. Dave Allen went very well, Doran and Gannon gave it their all as usual but I thought we did struggle at times in the middle. Not sure if JJ is quite up to speed yet and obviously Heckenburg hasn't played so again hopefully that will be an area we don't have to worry about - well especially if we could get either Haggy or Pickersgill back before the end of the season.

Bit disappointed, but was a good game and we weren't that far off where we need to be so can't be too downhearted. As for the ref - we couldn't really blame him too much. Can't remember him giving Fev much that they didn't deserve, and as a lot fo Fev fans have said we probably had the far more penalties than they did. My main criticism of the ref was the offsides - he pinged us for it quite early on in the 1st half, but it appeared he let them be offside time and time again. There was one incident where we played it, the ball was passed to JJ who was tackled almost at the same time he recieved the ball, JJ went down and the ref then gave a knock on, that no-one else seemed to see. Probably the main reason why Leahy is getting so much stick from the Widnes fans though is because of how the game was decided.

i tell you what i would do, if the people (they know who they are) were to meet me at your ground and shake hands with me and have a pint, then watch another quality game of rugby league. until then i'll keep my distance thanks.

like me (i'm 37 by the way it happened the day before my 16th birthday), they would be a similar age although the one with the wood and a couple of others were well in their 20's, they will have families and i would hope be better people now with principles and respect for other human beings

You find out who it was get them to get in touch with me on here and i'll see you all next year. i can't say fairer than that.

If that had happened to me I wouldn't go back to that ground either. But I don't think anyone has anything to fear these days.

Don't think anyone's mentioned that it was our 3rd game in 8 days and Fev's 2nd. That must have had an effect.

There are plenty of excuses for not putting on 100%, and I think we could've won if we'd cut out a few stupid errors. Like using the overlap correctly.

Didn't look down to fatigue to me, just some dumb rugby (Doran never fails), some daft penalties and failure to take chances when they came your way.

Vikings 4 ever sums up the game really well.I think once we get everyone fit onto the Park and start to gel, i think we will be a force.We missed a big front rower like Haggerty who would punch holes up the middle.Hopefully Heckenberg will do that once fit.His stats are impressive on average yards made, so i am looking forward to seeing him play.We need to complete our sets more often, and the kicking game needs to improve.

He does fail at playing the dumb rugby quite often. He's been excellent for us this season and has stood up well during the injury crisis.
Didn't really notice anything too bad from Doran the other night either considering the constant sillyness going on in the tackle whenever he and Gannon were put to ground. In fact I thought they were restrained.
Not sure he can be can be blamed for being tackled when he and Webster made the break either.. Webster came back inside after giving it Doran and it made sense to me for him to look for more support.. He was never going to make the line himself.
By the same token.. Dave Allen's attempted pass to Flynn was worth a shot to. If it had come off it was a certain try and fair play to Allen for trying something a bit different.

To be fair.. I think he has a point.. Fev certainly didn't look a top of the table team on the performance of Friday night and to suggest otherwise would be delusional. They currently find themselves in top spot and for the rest of the season just gone they might have looked like the Australian Test side but on the evidence of the other night they did look very ordinary.
I was expecting something different to back up your league position but I was gutted not to have come away with the points after fearing a landslide against us and was disappointed that an error strewn performance from Widnes gifted you the win.

You've obviously been firing on all cylinders coming into this match and I'm not sure that the tragic circumstances of the last week might have had an impact.

As for the dirty bit.. I'd argue that they weren't... Leahy did his best not to talk to the Fev players despite awarding quite a few penalties for holding down and offsides. When he eventually did send a player off, deservedly, it was almost like he thought that had wiped the disciplinary count away for Fev and they were allowed to get away with two more incidents which equally could have seen the player sit out 10 minutes. The first involving Ainscough and the second involving Doran.
Featherstone worked out that they could get away with a fair bit with that Ref and played according to that level.. the problem was that our players didn't and let tackled players spring up and lay on the ground like upside down comatose sharks when tackled themselves.

As for the away fans.. superb most of them.. a few seemed intent on starting a riot at the end walking down the stairwell.. but generally.. they were okay.

I have just watched the dvd and to be honest Leahy got most of the calls spot on, it was a propa rugby league arm wrestle and great game. I think Rovers have been badly effected by the events of last week but Widnes looked a very strong team. The decision at the end to give Rovers the penalty at the scrum was spot on, he warned Widnes once that they were packing down without a loose forward, so they then went and packed down again without a loose he was nowhere near the scrum. Dont know who your loose forward was but blame him not the ref, brainless and stupid it was

Harsh decision IMO. I can see Widnes packed down originally without a LF, and Leahy pointed this out. However, Gerrard was on his way to the scrum to pack down, but Leahy called the scrum to be formed for the second time before he got there and you put the ball in, imo Leahy could and should have waited around 1 or 2 seconds to allow Gerrard to make it to the scrum. He was literally a few yard away making his way to pack down.


THE HOOF

I can't read anywhere where anyone has suggested that Chris. We found Widnes hard to beat on friday. We've done the fancy stuff, the subliminal stuff and the outrageous stuff at times this season so far. On Friday we had to grind out a result and find a way to beat the Vikings - which we did - just! Sometimes when a team is begining to establish a run together, other teams raise their game because they are the team to catch as were Barrow last season, and IMO will still be this season. Widnes were hard, and I'll repeat, the best team we've played so far this year - by a "country mile"!!!!!

aye, happen!!

We haven't beaten Toulouse yet eh??? One hurdle at a time!

I'm lovin it for the mo tho!! I've seen enough of the cak days - it's nice to have a bowl of the good stuff for a change!

Enough Zappa for now - now it's the Stone roses - I love Bank Holidays since I took the community role on! Sod shifts at the Happy factory.