Can I just add, great shot at the end from young Josh Guzdek to put Lineham into the West Stand! Good lad.

No suprise at all that FC dominated the first half given they played last week, I would have been shocked had it been the other way round. I bet Chester is far happier than Radford, the lads showed up well by the sounds of it in the second half and it seems fitness is pretty good for our first hit out.

Kelly was very good for you guys though sneya and yeaman (I think) shouldve had him wrapped up before your second try. Keep him fit and it looks promising for you

Same for us after our first 40

Think both teams will suprise a few of these 'exper' pundits

Having Bailey and Walker, who could well be our starting props back for the early part of the season is also a big boost.

It was a good tackle tbf. Although Lineham bit off more than he could chew. Tried to do a Tommy Makinson style one hand put down but he was never going to get there. Guzdek just kind of shoved him whilst in the air. He'd have been better served just putting his head down and trying to power over.

Enjoyed that. Half an hour of pre season cobwebs & then some real promise. Line speed needs to pick up, but kicking game looked good & we seem to have some genuine strike players. Bit disappointed at how many times our kickers & ball players were taken late though.

I must admit I thought we were lucky not to be penalised a couple of times for blocking chasers off.

Think we may need to invest in a decent fullback instead of hooker to be honest! Dixon looks woeful in that first half imo, second half when he was on the wing was a different story though! Maybe start mantellato at FB next week against wire if he's not injured. Players that's stood out for me today was Kelly, Sio, Burke, allgood, weyman, campese, green. Bit dissapointed with goulding who I thought was making some a fair few poor defensive reads in the first half that rovers where lucky to not be punished for! Must say he did steady himself and look better second half though. SR may be a big weakness for us this year but let's wait and see. Overall though, great performance from the boys and if we play well against wire could be rolling into the Leeds game with a lot of confidence and off the back of some good performances!

For Goulding you have to remember Coatsy that that will be his 1st game back after breaking his leg so hasn't played a game for many months. Steady but unspectacular derby that I'm sure he'll be relieved to get out the way.
For Mantelatto with his size he'll be better suited on the wing. We Deffo saw a couple of times when he went up for high balls that he's going to be massive in that area for us, especially when you take into account the types of cross field kicks that Kelly and Campese seem to enjoy putting in.Dixon was rusty I'm hoping that's all because with his speed you saw on more then one occasion that he nearly profits from getting away from the first chasers.
We looked god in the 2nd half and we should only get better better and better. Fast backs and effective halves and with Walker and Bailey to come into the side I'm left with mouth watering ideas of how good Bailey, Walker, Allgood and Weyman can actually be.

I cannot speak highly enough of James Green; he's bulked up and full of confidence, and for me made a massive impact when he came on and I would say he led the charge in the second half along with the very good Mitch Allgood.

I also thought Jordan Cox continued where he left off last season with strong direct running.

The potential for next season is mouth-watering however it would be even more if we had a decent 9 - very disappointed with Carlile although Boudebza looks a good prospect (for 15mins). With a good 9 in the ranks then we might have a good season to look forward to.

When did that happen?

Oops a serious knee injury rather.