Re: v WAKEFIELD (A) : Sun Jun 23, 2013 4:16 pm  

Just got in, 46 - 14 at full time. On the plus side, I had a tenner at 12/1 for Dixon to score two, a shame he didn't get a third though, I had another tenner on that at 100/1, silly odds really

Re: v WAKEFIELD (A) : Sun Jun 23, 2013 5:59 pm  

For 20/25 minutes after h/t we were good, stayed in the arm wrestle, forced errors and looked relatively threatening. Other than that it was pretty damn poor. Some of the tries conceded were so easy for them.

Individually I thought Little looked promising, he's slight in build but showed more in terms of the physicality needed than I've ever seen from Channing. Wicks went okay, was playing in the middle so didn't have the chance to do too much but tackled well. Fairbank was average really, no better than Dollapi/Krasniqi.

I'd probably say that Melling was our best player, ran some great lines in the 2nd half whilst Sarginson defended very well but didn't create much from half-back.

Also, surely we have a better kicker than Grady, scored a simple conversion but the other 2 were nowhere near!

Re: v WAKEFIELD (A) : Sun Jun 23, 2013 9:45 pm  

I'd go a bit further in my praise for Harry Little - it was an excellent debut in a beaten side. Looked like he had a dislocated finger put back in on the field, and however hard he ried Ali couldn't run over the top of him! And his flick pass to put Colbon in just before half time was pure class.
When we eventually got hold of the ball we looked better than most of the games I've seen this year. Dorny's kicking game was pretty good, and we did play with players in motion and depth.
The reason we lost the game is because we can't defend our own line; particularly Messrs Sarginson, Channing and Dixon today I'm afraid. EVERY Wakefield score came from a tackle miss on that side.

Re: v WAKEFIELD (A) : Mon Jun 24, 2013 8:06 am  

Agree Melling was our best player! defence is woeful at times,but nothing seems to get done about it, do they look at the video on a Monday morning and go through points with individuals.

More and more now I have to really push myself to travel just to see the same errors, how young players must feel after these games I don't know. It feels like we are just playing out time.

Re: v WAKEFIELD (A) : Mon Jun 24, 2013 8:59 am  

nkpom wrote:

I'd go a bit further in my praise for Harry Little - it was an excellent debut in a beaten side. Looked like he had a dislocated finger put back in on the field, and however hard he ried Ali couldn't run over the top of him! And his flick pass to put Colbon in just before half time was pure class.
When we eventually got hold of the ball we looked better than most of the games I've seen this year. Dorny's kicking game was pretty good, and we did play with players in motion and depth.
The reason we lost the game is because we can't defend our own line; particularly Messrs Sarginson, Channing and Dixon today I'm afraid. EVERY Wakefield score came from a tackle miss on that side.

We'll see on the highlights but I didn't think Sarginson was at fault for much, if anything in defence. Hard to argue about the other 2 names mentioned though.

Also how bad is Lee Smith these days!?! His kicking was immense but with the ball he dropped it pretty much every time and in defence he had no answer for Melling.

Re: v WAKEFIELD (A) : Mon Jun 24, 2013 9:41 am  

The Wakefield lead was built up due to four factors:

A) Overpowering a small team up the middle, with players trying to slow the play the ball
B) Alibert penalizing our team in a disproportionate manner
C) A very strong wind carrying all kicks, including in own half penalties as much as 60 metres forward
D) A quick switch through hands allowing barge tries close to the line

We actually defended with vigour and enthusiasm but the score line didn't reflect that, with individual weakness on our own line the final factor.

The second half saw the wind with London and also a great attitude and there was a half hour spell when we were by far the better team and cutting Wakefield apart all over the park, looking like scoring off each set.

In the last 10 minutes when Wakefield scored the game was clearly up, but we battled hard.

There were big games for the little halfback Mikey Bishay, the debutants went well including Little who played in a try scoring pass from centre, Chris Melling as mentioned and I thought Sarginson and Dixon played very well.

Mark Bryant smashed two guys to pieces in the last 30 seconds when he was riled up, let us see more of that.

I also thought that the Wakefield fans were a credit to their town, very decent, humble people willing to have a laugh with the away supporters.

Getting up at 7am and leaving Wakefield at 8pm certainly maximized the beer opportunity, but my 12/1 tip and 100/1 tip Kieran unfortunately couldn't find a third try.