It quickly became apparent what a key player Jamie Rooney is for Haven, everything went through him, 2 short kick offs they regained the possession from, a kick off that bounced out, another one that nearly did if it wasnt for Thackeray (I think) managing to grab it before it bounced, and a 40/20. and that was just off his boot.
As someone else said Thacks had a quiet first half but was great in the second, and I think all the forwards put a good shift in, my Mrs noticed a reluctance for us to get the ball out wide and said that the lack of service to players like rob showed.
Lack of a back up fullback is apparent. Fieldhouse is a solid player there but Rikki has never been great under a high ball (remember at Widnes vs York!)
If Tony Tonks hadn't have knocked on over the line and scored to put us 14 pts in front, I reckon that would have killed the game as a contest and we may have been able to turn the screw a bit and add a few more points on to the total, but instead they went down the pitch and almost scored which kept the game alive right to the end almost.
Yesterdays game has to be noted for the defensive effort from Halifax, I think Haven had 3 repeat sets due to us conceding penalties on the 5th consecutively but we still kept them out. As well as absorbing a lot of pressure in the second half in that third of the pitch.
After the game Karl Harrison popped in the bar for a drink with some fans, and in his interview thanked all the fax fans for making the trip, describing us as a "bunch of legends". He also got a big cheer when he declared he's always thought of Whitehaven as THE Cumbrian team. Scott Murrell also popped in briefly and thanked some of us for going, and when offered a beer politely declined stating we have a game thursday.
David Seeds who spoke in Dave Woods absence was also very complimentary to the fax side.
As far as my travel experience, we left York and with the A66 been shut after Scotch Corner went to Harrogate then onto Skipton and on the road out towards the M6, quick comfort break at Devils Bridge and a coffee stop at Tebay, really couldnt believe how little snow there was up there. Came home over the A66 which was a little hairy on the highest parts with a lot of snow blowing off the fields. but with a combination of a fleet of snowplows and gritters fighting what looked to be a losing battle, and very little traffic we got over the 10 mile stretch that was bad with relative ease. Can't blame some people for been put off going though.
Attendance of 700 and something was a bit of a shock, I'm sure Whitehaven used to get twice that if not more, I panicked briefly on the approach to the ground that it had been a 2pm kick off cos there seemed to be no one about, a few years ago on the road down past that big church there used to be throngs of people walking to the game. Whats happened? I spoke with a couple of Haven fans who said that they werent happy with the dual reg thing, but what made them more unhappy was the lack of local lads in the team, and instead bringing in players from PNG and France, they said when they were top end of the championship they had 8 or 9 local lads and people identified with the team. Hope they can sort things out as Whitehaven really is a great club with some great people
