: Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:59 pm  

Code13 wrote:

Funny how there isnt a thread on the VT about how many tickets were given away before this game to inflate our crowd.

Having paid £27 for my two tickets, I'd be pretty annoyed if they were giving the feckers away!!!!!!!!!!!!!

: Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:15 am  

Code13 wrote:

Funny how there isnt a thread on the VT about how many tickets were given away before this game to inflate our crowd.

You always send us a load for £10 each but I was in work today so couldn't take up the offer. I wouldn't have minded watching today either!

: Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:06 am  

Went to the game today as a neutral. Referee wasn't that bad overall I thought. A lot of whinging by the Huddersfield faithful over nothing, similarly Saints.

He did miss a couple of things. Saints were offside a lot in the first-half and Alibert failed to penalise them, but that comes part and parcel of the game.

Put it this way - they cannot win. They blow for penalties and people moan at the stop/start nature of the game. They don't blow and they're crap because they are letting the game flow.

I thought the result was an unfair reflection. 12-6 or 18-6 would have been fairer. Very disappointed with Saints' performance though. They were pretty average really.

You had Saints on the rack for the first 30 mins of the second half, but apart from that I thought your attack was very flat and too many mistakes cost you. Defensively good however. I thought Scott Moore went very well and was good, while Kevin Brown had a solid game also.

You should easily make the top eight - top six too - if you keep these performances up.

: Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:09 am  

I think most people are forgetting that we played against one of the best teams in the world today. Both defenses were brilliant imo and the only reason Saint didn't look in top form is because we were up on them before they could do anything. On another day the scoreline would have been the other way round had we just managed to plant a few of those balls down. A matter of inches was the differences between us winning comfortably today and losing. All round I was happy with our performance today and thought Mason and Moore were our best players. You can't expect the halves to be splitting the defense open at will against a team like St.Helens. That performance would have beaten almost any SL team today. Also today I witnessed the worse case of holding down by a side that i've ever seen, yet the French bloke never took any notice of it.

: Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:00 am  

Aye there was certainly a Catalanesque tinge to some of Saints' defending!

: Mon Feb 23, 2009 10:28 am  

PONNER wrote:

I think most people are forgetting that we played against one of the best teams in the world today. Both defenses were brilliant imo and the only reason Saint didn't look in top form is because we were up on them before they could do anything. On another day the scoreline would have been the other way round had we just managed to plant a few of those balls down. A matter of inches was the differences between us winning comfortably today and losing. All round I was happy with our performance today and thought Mason and Moore were our best players. You can't expect the halves to be splitting the defense open at will against a team like St.Helens. That performance would have beaten almost any SL team today. Also today I witnessed the worse case of holding down by a side that i've ever seen, yet the French bloke never took any notice of it.

Was that when you were doing it? Both teams were as bad as each other for holding down, though I thought that we were penalised more for it. It does, as others have said, look as if more time is being allowed for grappling this season though. I cannot comment on the offsides as I was behind the sticks.

I thought Huddersfield played well, individual mistakes in the first half such as people dropping the ball cost you field position, they seemed to be cut out a lot in the second half and you had a good proportion of the game. Two great cover tackles by Wellens stopped 2 almost certain tries, which would have made it a different game in that last 10 minutes.

All in all, IMO you look a lot better side this year, Browns coaching has definately taken you up a level.

: Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:06 pm  

As I said, we missed too many chances to win the game, saints didnt miss theirs, simple as that.

The only thing I am dissapointed in is letting the soft tries in at the end, the moment Saints broke the deadlock I knew it would happen.

Still, we took the minor premiers all the way to the wire, and didnt let them play for long periods thanks to some superb defence, our young lads played well, Brown and Robinson worked well together and our forwards looked very good.

As an aside, and without any reflection on the match, how does Wilkinson manage to not get sent off every single week?

: Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:52 pm  

Who is Wilkinson?

: Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:59 pm  

Thought we should of been well clear at half time and could only see us running away with the game but Giants really got at us in the 2nd half and had they scored then I think you would of won.
Gutted the pub next to the ground wasnt open...gone from my top away fixture now!!

Think you will win alot more than you lose and glad we dont have to visit you again

: Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:16 pm  

Why were there no bombs put up in the first half when the Saints players had the sun in their eyes? That's just basic. Surely any idiot could see that that should have been the game plan. I think it was disgraceful that Brown did not tell the players to put bombs up into the sun in the first half.