Beswick made Duffy look good.

I am shocked I really am as after that first spell of pressure against a defence that has not been known to defend well (look at the scores against Leigh when they have played the better teams this season) we fell apart, I agree it gave them some confidence that they had held us out and they looked better with the ball in hand than we did scoring off their second attack and nearly off their first! They used the whole field while we didn't we were one dimensional with too much one man stuff again, we even used Jim Gannon as try line buster, really??? Wrong man he aint big enough he is better from further running at pace onto the ball as he showed twice tonight making good breaks.
I have had question marks over our half backs all season as Handforth is steady away (I like the guy he is Mr Reliable) but he solely relies on his kicking game and rarely makes a line break or puts a man in for a try by a pass its 90% kicks he gets us tries from and good field position, which means on a night like tonight we needed Thackeray to perform and sadly yet aagin he was a no show, one near try scoring effort apart.
But it was just one of those nights we failed to get the ball away for two of their SIX tries, yer six I never thought we would concede so many at home this season. This against a decent but not world beating team like Leigh, when we finally decided to play by throwing the ball out wide we scored twice and nearly a third time.
Now this is a big test for us as we need to see what reaction the lads give next week, also have some players played themselves out of the team like Tyrer, Thackeray and maybe Fieldhouse who all did very little tonight?
Or will Karl show faith to let them redeem themselves???
Blimey even the normally superstar Dane Manning was a bit out of sorts he got cleaned up a few times.
My only gripe was the kneck high tackling going on which the Ref allowed, especially by Leigh, ouch they must hurt.

I honestly can not believe I have just read that comment!!

Do you actually attend the games, or do you just look at the results? If you do go to the games, you certainly have a different perspective of them than I do.

You are correct, we were (prior to tonight) top of the league.
However, do you really believe that to be an achievement? We are playing in a Mickey Mouse league where every game is effectively a friendly. In the majority of cases we are playing against sides consisting of RL’s journeymen who unfortunately never have (or never will) make the grade in SL, and therefore change their club ever season or so and just wait for the next best deal from a club who needs ‘freshening up’.

As for the Northern Rail Cup….
Watching Fax at Dewsbury on that freezing cold day back in February, I really did think it was, ‘the start of a new era’ as KH and the club had led us to believe, following the gritty and professional win. However, from then on it has all gone down-hill. If you; or any other Fax fan can say they were satisfied with that win, down at Skolars, then I would like to know how? In all of my life watching Fax, that particular game sticks out in the mind as being one of the worst. Granted, later on in the NRC they put up a very spirited performance against Fev and were unlucky to be defeated. As you say, they are through to the QF, however, again do you view this to be an achievement for Fax? Surely it just goes to show that the NRC is a total non-event and can only be won by the ‘bigger’ Championship clubs.

So far, I think we are 11 competitive games in to the season, I am extremely dispirited. Yes of course there have been the high points; Dewsbury and Fev in the NRC, Sheffield in the league and they also did a very professional job in the CC against Myton. However, these performance have been totally overshadowed by the inconsistency, that seems to have plagued every Fax side, since we have been playing at this level since 2004. For me; the performances: tonight, Keighley, York, Skolars (and despite scoring 84 points) South Wales, have all been well under par. With the exception of tonight, where we have played a very well drilled Leigh side; all the other defeats have been as a result of Fax’s: incompetence, indiscipline and in many cases, the lack of desire to win! So how you can be satisfied with this season so far is beyond me. We already look destined for yet another season of mediocrity!

I realise it is early days in the season, however, I’m sure that if we had watched this dross last season, there would have been supporters calling for MC’s head. Yet in the eyes of the vast majority of Fax fans Karl ‘The Messiah’ Harrison can still do no wrong! I’m sorry to break it to you folks….. but as of yet; The grass has not been greener on the other side.

Far too early days for these type of comments, don't forget we have almost a complete different playing squad and new coach and we are only 5 games into the championship!

Fair enough I agree we are still lacking any consistency and have been poor in those games you mention BUT to be fair this is a new team and new regime so we have to give it time, some players have shown up well early this season and some haven't, in time we will find out who are good enough and who are not as I say its early days.
Lets see how we go on next week eh? Lose badly again and we all will need to revise how good we think we are, win and this game tonight will be partly forgotten, not getting a bonus point will cost us though.
I am not sure which Fax will turn up next week plus we seem to lose at home and win away these days against Leigh, I bet the Leythers aint so confident with their track record against us at the LSV???

get ben black back!!

Noooooooo.
I think and hope that Thacks is a dry weather player so come the better weather he will prove us all wrong, I am not totally convinced mind as for me is the one wild card Karl has got in the team.
The rest of the lads CAN PLAY BETTER than that we all know it, lets see how we go next week eh and come back and judge then, tonight we looked lost and did not look like a team which has not been the case this season, some soul searching will go on and I think we will see how good (or bad) we are next week.

Our discipline & decision making was awful tonight. Leigh played the conditions better, usually by Beswicks simple inside passes onto powerful runners making much more yardage than us. In all honesty, I thought Harrisons style of team would have been more suited to wet weather conditions.
Handforths decision making, his penalty for cross-in, constantly running up and down blind alleys throwing out flat blind passes and another penalty for his high shot cost us field position. Thackeray was ultimately ineffective as the Leigh defence was excellent tonight. (The Leigh fans accusations of him being a one trick pony was probably justified tonight). Its a shame Bowman wasn't on the bench tonight. He can put players through gaps, though his defence can be suspect. I think we need to bring in an half back in on a dual-reg if possible.
We kept making errors in our own 20 by running the ball in to touch (White?), that awful back pass that hit the deck before the man and Reitties howler from a Leigh attacking kick.
Fieldhouse looked nervy tonight and our play the ball in general had no urgency whatsoever,
All in all, a bad day at the office. I hope the swathes of fans leaving the ground early as Fax were stuck behind the sticks will be a good kick up the backside for them.

Next week, I'd give Worrincy a start, put Reittie in the centres, Sam Barlow and Bowman on the bench.
I have a sneaky feeling we'll be more up for it next week (weather permitting!) The question is, can Leigh match the intensity they showed tonight for the second week running? It will be a very close game.
And lets hope for a better ref (he was just poor in general reffing both sides tonight)

Do you only crawl out of the woodwork when we lose? Where's your lengthly assessment been for the last nine matches? What the frig do some people want? Take your head out of the sand and get a dose of reality. Once again - we are a semi-pro club and only slightly better off than most in our league by the extra 500 people we get through the gate. That's it.

God loves a moaner and you'll glide through heaven's gate.

I would like to think that when you look at this post this morning you might shake your head and think "did I really write that"??

Being top of a "Micky mouse league" does not represent a reasonable achievement??? Being in the last 8 of the NRC doesn't represent reasonable achievement??

Well I supopose I'd like the Fev v Fax fixture in a fortnight to be a SL fixture - but it isn't! For reasons beyond our clubs for the mo at least, these are the only comps in which we have a realistic chance of measureable success - unless you count progress in the lottery of the challenge cup.
It's the only comp we are in. Until last night Fax were top of their league, and are still in all competetions so far. Nothwithstanding last nights result, Fax have achieved about as much as could possibly have been expected of them so far. How on earth would you have seen them improving on their position this season?? Unbelievable.
Like fev did v sheffield, fax lost a game! Sh it happens - move on.

I do despair sometimes at how quick some hit the panic button

He's just not happy with the manner in which we have set off this season. Ugly wins mixed in with good wins. That's Rugby League I'm afraid. He moans, season in, season out. I feel sorry for him. But, he pays his money like everyone else so his opinions are entitled of course.

Will make more comments later when ive come round a bit but i wouldnt get too disheartened just yet, it was just one game. We have had a few players who have performed really well all season but unfortunatley for us last night collectively they had an off day, its going to happen.

Leigh played really well and im sure it will be a different game next week. One thing that does impress me, even though its border line obstruction most of the time, is Leighs use of the dummer runners they are running through the line at all angles and then hovering in our line to confuse the defence. We dont seem to be able to use the ball in the same way.

Well, here goes, thought we could have done with Bowman on the bench as an option, tackling was poor and Leigh's was excellent, Fieldhouse was n't in the game going forward, still not sure about Handforth though the early kicking was good we didn't capitalise on it.
As GFB said they seemed to obstruct/shield a bit too much and it was n't pulled up so I guess if you can get away with it, but one where there player walked backwards into our oncoming defence was appallingly bad. Lines men were as bad as ref.
On the back of this though I still feel that next week we can only improve (famous last words) and a few people will have the riot act read to them. Pats should be in and Sam B as Ambler won't be in unless Leeds are out.
Bring it on.

Some of the comments in this thread are unbelievable, talk about over-reaction.

You needed more points in the first 25 mins or so when you had all the ball and all the field position, Leigh's goal-line defence was excellent and they were a threat close to the Fax line every time.

It was a bad day at the office, move on!

Been a while since I watched a game.

One of the things that shocked me was our lack of options in attack compared to Leigh.
They looked dangerous everytime they had the ball and despite a great start from us we didnt have anyone running through the line. If you look at how flat we were compared, the Leigh halfbacks had us standing off them in defence with 2 or 3 runners causing us havok. Our attack was very easy to read, the one face ball I remember ended up in a try, we seemed very cautious and without that bit of fire. Just at the point it looked like Leigh were gonna have their heads down they realised how easy it was to cause us problems with the ball in hand and it gave them instant confidence.

www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/sport/r ... -1-4466720 this picture may indicate why our tackling was so poor.

www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/sport/r ... -1-4466720 this picture may indicate why our tackling was so poor.

Why do clueless people spout so much

another observation, in the forwards, Gannon, who was by no means our worst performer looks to have a physique more akin to Colum Hallpenny than Adrian Morley and Aizue just doesnt have the intensity, seems to wait for someone to run straight at him to put a hit on. I am a little out of touch with the comings and goings and am aware of a bit of an injury problem in the forwards, Barlow? Morrison? We need to look more of a handfull in terms of grunt for me, we need a much bigger platform to work from.

Am I really clueless Mr Baggins?

Not overly worried, knew it wasnt going to be our day after all that pressure in the first 20 minutes and we didnt rack up any points, plus the weather didnt help us, it just wasnt our night and Leigh wanted it more. Be different next week.

Did you watch the game against Fev at home in the NRC and also our league win, away at Sheffield? They were absolutely superb performances from Fax. So having seen how well they can play, I don’t see why you seem content, with other performances that seem average at best.

Of course Fax will have their off-days; all sports teams have them, however, there have been far too many, so far. In a way, you can tolerate the lacklustre performances against Skolars and South Wales as they are playing lesser opposition. Last night they played one of the ‘bigger’ teams in the league and were still unable to raise their game, does that not concern you at all?

Granted as some people have mentioned on here, the squad was completely rebuilt at the start of the season. They have been training together since December! Did they not played 3 friendlies for them to gel together, and have they not played a further 11 games since then? I hardly think that 14 games into the new regime that the ‘give them time, they are new squad’ argument is very credible. Regardless of this, the fact they have a new squad does not explain the lack of spirit that was evident in the second half of last night.

It is apparent that some people on here have not been to every game this season, it is not a case of last night being, ‘one bad day at the office’, as I listed on my original post there have been 5 or 6 other performances, that simply haven’t been good enough. That is the reason why I wrote the post in the first place.

Why do I appear critical when I post on here? Simply because I want the best for our club! We have been playing at this level for the last 9 seasons and I hate to say it, but we have stagnated! Would Fax be able to survive another decade down here in the doldrums of RL? Who knows? I think every Fax fan; regardless of how they put their point across, realises the need to progress to SL. Last night saw a televised game between two of the sides both looking to be in SL next time round, and would have been a great opportunity to stick two fingers up at the RFL and show them a great advert for semi-pro rugby, unfortunately Fax squandered that chance. I hardly think that scraping a 1 point win at home against Keighley bodes well for the future! Do you?

Well said

Agreed. I guess because I havent been to many games lately it is hard to judge a performance on its own

I was disappointed how we lost more than anything and how some players just allowed to let their heads drop. The lazy half hearted tackling by some was for me not on.
I am yet to be impressed by our halfbacks. Thackray drifts in and out of games and seems to be more an opportunist rather than a creator for others. Handforth has a good kicking game but seems to not have a good creative game where he puts people through and comes across as a bit soft. I feel we lacked creativity and too much one man stuff. And that seemed to be the case against keighley. Plenty of good pressure with not enough creativity for points.

I said this at the start of the season regards your halves.
I have never really rated Handforth and for me was far too inconsistent during his time at Fev, tho to be fair, the Batley fans I have spoken with suggests they watched a very different Handforth to what we did.
ging dong described Thackery as a 'one trick pony', a description that has been repeated so many times by observers including fax fans since then. Remove the 'show n go' from his game and there's little else.
When fax failed to improve on their lead at the half hour mark, Leigh got a break - went down field and fax looked like rabbits caught in the headlights.
Thackeray went AWOL and Handforth went from controling the game to completely bizarre rugby.
It's not the end of the world and I know Karl has a lot of faith in Tiger. Expect it to be adressed immediately.


ps - just re-read this. Comes across a bit "ours are better than yours, so ner ner"! Not meant to be!

Peace n love