Really looking forward to this one , always enjoy my trips to the pigeons n the Shay , always close Battles

Im going

Fax 12 Batley 20

Fax 14 - Batley 8

A very close game

Fax by 6 after another titanic battle.

The games against Batley are always tough encounters.

The Fax and Batley packs rarely let themselves down so it will be an interesting encounter to see who comes out on top, can't wait.

Ref is Mr Stokes

Fax by 8. Hope Batley bring a good number of support with them

3 pages on Leigh Winers forum about Mr Stokes.
Apparently he is the reason they only narrowly won. Nothing to do with their indiscipline or the type of players they have.
Afterwards Mr Stokes pis@ed on Derek's strawberries, broke every window in the legends bar and was ejected for singing "O'h Hali Hali"
Talk about sour Lobby.

Well we should all know by now that it is all about him and manage that. I have to say that he would not be my first (second/third or even fourth) choice.

Actually John, he is probably the reason we won, (never mind only narrowly) in the final analysis! In the first half, he absolutely caned us for every technical offence in the book. Two team warnings and two sin binnings, plus 12/13 penalties, ensured we didn't see an awful lot of the ball in those first 40 minutes.

For some bizarre reason, he 'turned' at half time, and apparently saw London committing offences that they didn't commit in the first half. The penalty count ended up pretty even, but the second half 'about face' by Stokes, ensured we got the possession, when London were tiring, and proved just enough for us to squeeze through. Strangley, despite conceding as many 'technical' penalties as us, London didn't receive a team warning or see any of their players in the bin.

This weekend, you are likely to see another virtuoso performance from Stokes, with very little chance of seeing much from 34 excellent players. (except kicking for touch from penalties!)

Seriously, the guy can be wildly erratic, so you could be in for an uncertain, and frustrating afternoon.

P.S. Beware of Batley - they can play a bit!!

[size=150THAT'S NASTY[/size

Your bloomin right it's nasty, but, never mind Derek can get his strawberries from Morrisons next door.
Pm's you.

This should be a good game. Batley have had a good start but I am quite confident about this match. Fax 28v10 Bulldogs. Black Bull, Lindley. Hardys and Hansons Olde Trip 4.3 % Mmm!

This game should be up there with the biggies, judging by Batleys current form i think Fax just by 2 pts Really looking forward to this one.

Batley have to be the form team at the moment and this will certainly be hard game. We seem to have really close encounters against them and I see this being no different. Wouldn't be surprised if this ended up being a draw! Hope we get another 4,000 crowd like we did a few years back when applying for SL franchise

Well, With stokes in charge, You'll be screaming for a game to break out. In fact if he does have shocker ,the rfl should suspend the useless buffoon.

Have seen this many times from Stokes. I think the referees get judged on how even the penalty count is, so they make an effort to even it up as the game goes on. That and I think Stokes is guilty of refereeing with momentum, that is whoever has the momentum gets every decision, regardless of the actual infringements that happen. He never goes against the grain, so to speak.

Oh no not my ginger friend Stokes please tell me this is a wind up???
A prima donna our Stokesy

Halifax 24-18 Batley
att: 2,100
Stokes isn't ideal but we will have to be at our best to beat Batley

The players theyve got ??? Manning cant control himself when he tries to cave Sams face in every time you play Leigh. The mans possessed. Watch your own what youve got supposedly good clean players. As for Derek. Bet you wished you had one

Is Sam out of intensive care yet after Manning pushed him to the floor?

Fax by 8. If this was at Batley with THAT referee then I'd be going 8 points the other way. I expect a very frustrating afternoon with Stokes but a great battle on the pitch. Always good encounters against the Bulldogs.

Well after being no where near last week(50 point win for Fax) I'm going with the Bulldogs to win by 6-8. We've only beaten the bottom two in the league and lost significantly in our other match and the Dogs are on fire so the only sensible call is an away win. Taking that all in to account if we play to our potential then we could turn them over, hope we do. Chuck in Georgie Boy and who the hell knows what will happen, I just hope he keeps out of the way and allows a game of rugby to break out as it should be a cracker.

Not much chance of that. After all, you ARE all going to watch HIM, aren't you?

Of course, well he thinks that anyway.

Fax by 8.