Ok, I accept many of you have been magnanimous in defeat, but there are still plenty of whingers on here.
To say the game was decided by a dubious decision just because that was at the end of the game is wrong. Every try and decision contributes to the overall result. not just the last one.
Personally I thought the tackle that James Martin made (1 on 1) on your 40 / 30 line was excellent. The ref gave a penalty and that started a series of plays that saw you catch and overtake us. Was the game decided on that dubious decison? Possibly, but I don't hear mention of that on here.
What really winds me up is the way that some of you accuse the ref of cheating but then end the post with 'fair play to Batley, they hung in there'. Just accept you were beaten by Batley, not the referee.

Well played Batley.



I say Batley are a beter team.

Ok, let me explain my position. I think the referee had more than a hand in the outcome of today game. You have to accept in our sport that decisions will go for you and against you throughout a game and a season but when a contentious decision that does affect the result is made, then of course his abilities are going to come under scrutiny, hence why I have two opposing views of the game, And I have no issue with Batley winning the game, in the cold light of day, if we can do the bizz in cumbria it will be good to see them in the draw .

If its a well done you want, well here it is. I hope we get to play each other again in this cup, preferably at blackpool.

Beter? What's that?

Better than Widnes for sure

Fax lost today because we played too much dumb rugby.

Oh dear now that you've complained about the ref coming from Batley you will probably get Hewer of Whitehaven reffing the Whitehaven game!!!!!

Well it cuts down on expenses

Better than Fax.

Need check my predictive txt on my phone.

Anyway i am enjoying the Fax lost at the moment.

We lost because of that first half performance and sloppy play when we had a winning position, plus giving away a stupid penalty for 'holding down' - Fairbank will have to learn.

But Mr Leahy was bad like why did we get that try disallowed in the first half???
Oh and for the record your man was sent off for putting one on Penky after we had already been given a penalty for him being offside, but you won't want to know that will you?
Leahy seems to go with whatever the flow takes him, he piggy backed you up the field plenty and the one moment we needed him to give us something he gave a knock on right at the end, when all dave Larder I thinkit was did was pull the ball into him to protect it.

No wonder Leahy got the bird at the end, hey Batley just about deserved their win but he certainly was bad and yes it did affect the result.

I am not for ref bashing but today there were some strange decisions, a couple spring to mind.

Larders disallowed try in the first half, Gannon knock on about 5 yards from our line when Batley were in possession, Batley try where the ball was clearly dead - all these were major decisions that went against us in the first half.

Having said that we played some very poor and dumb stuff today especially at the end and like others have said Batley wanted it more than we did today. So well done to Batley but I am sure we see you in the quarters !!!!!

We will see many worse displays this season for sure

I find it strange a Batley fan was chosen to ref this match

Cant blame the Ref or any Refs as they are all inconsistant! The biggest idiot is Stuart Cummins. Its the same each year. He never does anything with the match officials or they would improve.

Why blame the match officials when the players cant be d to turn up for 40 minutes? Batley always play the slowing the ball down at tackles. Its nothing new! Fax players and Coaching staff should have a better plan and attitude to combat it. Well done Batley. Fax back to the drawing board and us fans to get back to supporting MC and the players

Im sure this has been stated before the refereee is from Dewsbury. For anyone who does not already know these are our fiercest rivals and hate Batley with a vengeance, so to be honest when we knew it was him reffing we did not expect anything.....let alone as you state biased towards us and he wasn't, he was simply inconsistent as all the officials are. Get over it FFS !! its not a result that will have any effect on the season or the NR Cup to be honest.

Dewsbury/Batley is the same place! Its like saying Ovenden and Illingworth are two different towns. Leahy like most match officials is poor and will not progress when you have that Clown Cummins in charge of Match Officials

Wot he said

So now he is just not from Batley, he is actually a Batley FAN !!
I bet he has a season ticket at the mount and attends all games possible
around his refereeing commitments, and also has a BULLDOG tatoo'd on his
arm, and possibly one of those old home made indian ink tattoos down his
arm saying 'Batley till i die' !!! His car reg number is BUll DOG and his missus
works in the Pie van at the mount, and cleans at the club in the mornings.
He has 2 pets, Bulldogs of course named Tiger & Lyndsay and He did actually
arrive on the Batley team bus.
And there was also a rumour that he was on the pitch calling for Moore to come
of the bench to take the last minute shot at goal !!!

Pleeeeeeesssseeee....get over it !

Well if that's the case what the hell was he doing refing our game?

It's all very well slagging off the referee, but how many of you would put your hand up and do the job? There are many posters who do nothing but ref-bashing even when their side wins, as well. It has been said by some posters that decisions will even themselves out through the season; maybe they do, maybe not. We have to live with what we are given and moaning about it like we do, (I also include myself in that), won't make it right again. Both sets of fans have their views and both are equally right as they will see the game with blinkers for the most part, or you couldn't call them fans, could you? Batley won the first half, Fax won the second, and Batley won the game. Let's concentrate on beating 'Haven on Wednesday and put this game behind us.

Was bad that ref though

He clearly needs a performance review. I'm sure both Halifax and Batley will agree on that.

TS my problem is not the match officials its the pillock Stuart Cummins. I ref every now and then and its tough but I enjoy it. I know for a fact due to my various contacts,Cummins fast tracks youngsters who have little experience into doing Pro games. Many match officials are unhappy. There is a real problem with match officials not just Leahy. But Cummins has had years to sort the various problems-but nothing changes. The problems will never change with match officials as long as Cummins is in charge. He was arrogant as a ref and is arrogant now.

I don't have a problem with you on the SC front, Si; that's your beef. My problem is the standard and consistency that is apparent when his underlings take the field.

But SC is responsible for the match officials and each year we see the same inconsistency and different standards. Each game you see different rule interpretations. The sooner SC does something positive with the Match Officials the sooner the our game and enjoyment will improve.