Quote: weighman "After a promising spell in the 1st half , we were blown away in the 2nd half.'"
The sides looked quite evenly matched in the first 20 minutes but the telling factor was that we had a lot of possession near their line and didn't score, they had limited chances and found a way to get over the line.
In mitigation to the blow out second-half, Whitehaven were battled-hardened, we weren't. Nevertheless, Whitehaven were a well-drilled team with plenty of attacking options across the field. Their forwards made metres on contact, ours didn't. Their support play was excellent when they did get openings. In the end, they were too strong and overpowered us. We couldn't slow down their play-the-balls as we got fatigued. More errors crept into our game as we tried to push it which didn't help.
I thought our best players were Ben Johnston and Leon Ruan. Ben Johnston will be a handful for all teams in our league.
I suspect we'll be competitive in League One with a top four finish likely. We'll look good against the lesser sides but we'll be vulnerable against the better teams. Maybe the key to where we finish will be whether we get some props in or not.
The scoreline will have certainly done nothing for season ticket sales or to enthuse those who might be thinking of coming back. And those that went today might not fancy a quick return after such a comprehensive defeat.