fair play to dewsbury - apart from the line defence, they certainly matched or bettered the fax forwards

bit of class near the line made the difference for fax - well played rob for the chase back

I don't think it's luck being fitter than your opponents. Dewsbury were goosed after 60 minutes. If Ashall had got rid of that ball instead of them scoring and letting them get a hard on i think it could have been an easier night.
Think we did get the major decisions from the ref but the way the play the ball was reffed was disgraceful and they should have been pinged much more than they did.
Also credit to Bowman playing out of position for 60 minutes. Going down to two subs after 20 minutes is tough for any team. As for Handforth, I think he did ok, set up two tries. Both halfbacks could do with taking the line on a bit more.

Absolute rubbish.
I am a great Penky fan, but you are saying without him we would have lost two more games than we have.
To say Handforth is miles behind Branighan/Holroyd is futile, it's like saying Worrency is miles behind John Bentley, it has no relevance.
We use the players we have and in my humble opinion, Handforth is very much part of the team.
Don't forget some people think Thackrey is a one trick pony.
Each to their own.

Hope the moderators aren't looking.

mmmm didn't Handforth pick out a lovely timed pass for Robinson to score..

We lacked the attitude in 1st half, end of.

Got it back for 2nd half and ground out a result against a physical side on tight pitch with the elements against us. That's what championship winning sides do.

Perfect prep for the Fev game roll on next Thursday

Excellent comment, I accept when I said "luck" it was perhaps the wrong word. As Gary Player said "the more I practice the luckier I get"

We 'toughed it out' tonight, Dewsbury threw everything at us and played well, give them credit.
We looked determined to win it after getting back into it at 24-24 give the lads credit for that, we faced a barrage in the first half and kept them to 2 tries and yer we got a bit of luck at times but what about the kick that came off the crossbar for their try? The Ref allowed anything to go, lots of holding down and hands being left in the tackle all night, it spoiled things.
Our kicking game was poor at times again and Thackeray was quiet, Handforth struggled at times but he made the difference in the end with better kicks to the corners and that pass to Robinson. Well done Rob for that chase down of their winger, a match saver that.
Its a win and teams that win after their opponents give their all but still lose are often champions!

They may have matched but I really dont think they bettered us.



Im too getting sick of some of the e posted on here. Awful night, ing it down, awful conditions, played most of the game with 15 men and kept ourselves in the game enough to be in with a shout and looked the fitter team at the end despite all that. Did we really play poorly? Not in my eyes. It was a rough tough exciting game against a team who make it tough on their own ground and we dug in and won. We arnt/wont be the only team to struggle there.

You cant win every game by 30 points, sometimes you have to tough it out and the best teams are the ones that are good enough to win games that others would lose. That was one of them last night.

The game last night is the sort that over the last few seasons we would probably have lost but we dug in and came through, mainly I would say down to fitness, especially playing the 2nd half with 15 players.
Well done lads, now a good break before Fev.

Totally agree. I was stood near there also. i dont think being a fan makes you so blind that every single decision by the officials is incorrect and leads to a mouthful of abuse. Enjoy the game! dewsbury were brilliant and worked hard. Fax did great to win this one.

I have been abroad for a good few years and so I haven't seen as much of Fax as I would have liked. As I now live too far away to travel to see the fax I decided to spend £12.99 to watch them on Premium Sports.
I have a few questions or remarks to make about the game.
* When did the ruck area stop really been policed - This area of the game is soooo slow - is this normal at this level?
* When did the attacking kicks stop been part of the game & we simply kick the ball dead and re group on the 20?
* Did we really have that few ideas in attack - I know that Dewsbury slowed the game down and the conditions were not great - with the obvious exceptions of close to the line when the defense of Dewsbury simply melted away. We really didn't have many ideas - Unless we get the quick play the ball we struggle.
* What happened to the grounds and spectators? The noise we made was great to hear but the numbers have dwindled (or appear to have)

Before everyone jumps on my case about been negative - I just want to say I was very happy that we won the game and I remember many a year when we would have simply lost the game, and I was also very impressed with our fitness levels and desire.

Answers in bold and the last bit sums up how we should all feel very nicely.

Thank you for your reply.
To be fair the ref did look in pretty bad shape, but surely the RL should be watching these games and pick up on the spoiling tactics and amend the rules or ensure that refs crack down on it. This will sound biased as I am a fax fan but the quick rugby in the last 15 mins was so nice to watch.
I understand the basis behind why teams would do the kick out, but surely a 40 - 20 would have an even better outcome, nice idea on the penalty for negative play.
It is the first time this year that I have seen us play and I think that we did struggle without the quick play the ball, until we got close to the line. Can you honestly say that attacking from afar in last nights game we looked like scoring (without a quick play the ball). I agree with playing to our skills and I think that teams should get off the tackled player a lot quicker. This makes the game as a spectacle a lot better and tidies up the ruck area for non fans who are watching our game for the first time.
That suprises me about the crowds. If I am ever in that neck of the woods I will defo be coming to watch a game.

Would we have won that game last year?

or the york away game?

or the Swinton away game?

my opinion would be probably not.

They only bad thing to come out off last night is the injuries, everything else can be taken as 'things to work on' which Rhino will improve in training.

Well done Fax.

In hindsight it was a very good result, as Norman said those were the sort of games we'd have lost last year, things wouldn't be going our way and we'd fold but last night was different. While I think we should probably have a more elusive and clear 'Plan B', we did still come away with the win last night and hey, no teams perfect. Also, we can't forget these aren't the usual teams we've played against in the past where we should expect an easy win, most teams in this division are very well organised and have players who can do a lot of damage. Dewsbury have caused Leigh and Batley big problems and they've beaten Keighley so summing it all up, it's actually a very good result especially with the short turn-around and conditions.

oh yeah!

or the london away game?

Just concerning injuries, hows Ben Heaton doing?

Well Greg you should know. I said we played poorly, I still enjoyed the game and feel I have the right to express my opinion. Quite a few people I spoke to agreed with me. We showed courage and fitness but I stand by my comment. We played poorly.
O'h and an extract from todays courier.

“Rob wasn’t having his best game, I thought our backfield players were poor in general, but he showed great commitment, speed and athleticism to get back and make a tackle he probably had no right to make".

Looking forward to seeing you after you tell Karl he is talking "poop"
Just let me know what ward your in.
Best wishes.

Yet moan when people express theirs.



Unless im reading that bit wrong KH dosnt say we player poorly does he? I totally agree with what he says but obviously you seem to have taken it out of context.

I will let you have the last word.

Thanks.



At the end of the day whats it matter, we are busted and doing it tough yet we sit very pretty at the top of the league. Happy Days.

I don't care who we are playing there all tough games for different reasons.
Dewsbury at home included.
In the first half I would have liked us to have kicked the Rams into their own half on the last play and had them run it uphill a bit more.
The completion rate as been averaging low lately and our line speed in defence needs to be a bit quicker but for all the work in progress points were still getting the results just hope we don't run out of bodies with the injury list that's rising.

Totally disagree, I watched as a neutral and thought Handforth had a good game, he created two trys and his second half kicking was excellent, pegging Dewsbury back time after time.
If your looking at who to blame look no further than thackery, I didnt even realise he was on the field till mid second half.

Agree with that. Handforth is copping for it bescause his half back partner is under performing.