In terms of skill I thought both teams were even. However York were more enthusiastic from the off and we never showed up in the first 20 mins.

Take nothing away from an outstanding York defence. They were really bodies on the line today and ultimately I thought their defence ended up winning them the game.

As for us, I thought our main problem was line speed. It was non existent. We waited for the York attacker to come to us instead of getting up and meeting them. Happens week in week out except we have become used to dominating the tackle. They gained way too many yards and hence got into good field position.

Can't comment on the Grant 40/20 decision as I was at the bar but how he didn't score that try is beyond me.

Flanagan was awesome yet again as was Minchella and Peltier. Flanagan is class at 9 but we haven't got anyone who can bloody run effectively against a retreating defensive line. We pick it up and always run at the A defender instead of hitting the spaces to capitalize on the quick PTB..

Chisholm for me is awful on the last tackle. Every time he bombs it or cross field to Ryan (which got us a try fair enough) but also cost us the game. Where's the patience? The grubber to get a repeat set. The chip (the one at the end was bloody awful, way to many players around in the area he kicked too). Or even the 'banana' kicks he was doing in 2016. Just awful and predictable. In open play I think he's been bloody great all year.

Overall I thought we did really well to get it back to 30-28. Gutted for Chisholm at the end. But well done York. Great performance and I hope they go up with us. Imperative we do not drop any more points and also win big over the next few weeks. And a massive congratulations to the crowd - 6,471 is a massive achievement for League 1. Hopefully ourselves and York can develop a good healthy rivalry over the next couple of seasons.

Any update on the Keyes injury? Was the ambulance for him?

We have been poor for large parts in most games. Many teams are quicker at passing the ball along the line than us. We are so slow at passing it to the centres. We are predictable. 5 charges and a kick to the wing. That is all we did today. We will get promoted but I will repeat what I said two weeks ago when I started to question our scrum half. Many of this team are not good enough for the championship and yes, we need a scrum half who can run along the line and put people through gaps. All ours does is pass to the player next to him and then kick on the last tackle to the same winger. We need a play maker in there, a good old fashioned one who is there to make others play. Kear and Chalmers knew there was a problem with Chisholm and his poor play making which is why we have signed Lilley.
Expect to see Lilley in quicker than initially thought and he could very well keep the role when he gets settled. It is tough on Chizzy after his terrible injury but needs must and all that. The team as a whole are just not playing fluent rugby other than charges and kicks and that needs to change. It will get us up this year in league 1 but not next season.
Keys was knocked out but is fine. Should miss next week but Lilley will step in.

Disappointing first half - too many school boy errors! The second half was exciting though, was on the edge of my seat most of the game. Hats off to the handful of players who gave it their all - Minni, Crossly, Flanagan Peltz, Wood and Ryan. Don’t think Bustin has been the same since he came back from injury - looks very large and not agile, slow PTBs. Raps to Wood for the effort of chasing down their winger, even though it amounted to nothing. Ryan’s try was amazing too. Maybe the nerves got the better of some for this game. Also, bring back Pickersgill!!

Absolute disaster in the first half.Thought we might have sneeked it at the hooter. Grandson was gutted at the end not used to see us losing but he'll learn.

Great match and great occasion - Bradford should be commended for making the match an actual event, not just an 80 minute game, it puts the efforts of some clubs in higher divisions to shame. Friendly stewards, helpful staff, good beer prices, even a 15ft snake....what more could you want? Well just one thing, I didn't see any programmes for sale, do you not sell them?

Not going to comment on the refereeing or the penalties until I watch the match again.

What surprised me the most about Bradford was the amount of 1 man rugby you played....there wasn't much in the way of line breaks, attacking flair etc. It was a typical 'grind out the result' strategy by Kear which I've seen work on many ocassions, not least the 'Battle of Belle Vue' when Wakefield sent Cas down. It just didn't quite work today but I'm confident both teams will be playing each other in the Championship next season, hopefully by that time York will have moved into the new stadium.

One final point, very surprised at kicking for goal when 2 trys behind with 5 mins to go. Am I going mad here, I mean Chisholm (or Kear) was basically saying, we are happy to draw this match....but a drawn match would've still meant just 2 points and one slipup between the teams. You were in the ascendancy and had you gone for the try I fancy you to score another and win it at the death, which would've pretty much wrapped up the title. Strange decision, just reminded me of rugby union matches (eg we are 4 trys behind so let's kick a penalty goal!).

Many have made the points but:
1 we sat in the changing rooms for the first 25 minutes
2 don't see why McNally in on reputation ahead of Pickersgill
3 Hallas is not and never will be a hooker - poor mistakes
4 Halafihi should walk into the17 next week
5 poor tactics when we met some real opposition
6 real effort to retrieve a situation but we need a more fluid game rather than one out drives
7 sorry for the bench players who were let down by our regular slow start
8 how many penalties before a team warning - poor referee today
9 great spectacle

10 B game

It's quite simple,if you don't have an organised defence that tackles,you will lose.That first half was a complete joke as York just walked through,untouched to score.On that evidence that side would not be a threat in the Championship.Terrible.
Better get Sir Keith back in training imo.

No, we haven't had proper programmes for a couple of years - they print a couple of articles in the local paper the day before the game and give them away at the match to people who want them.

My two penn'orth is we put far too much pressure on ourselves in terms of bulling the game up to be a promotion decider. York didn't, they handled the pressure and we cracked. Once they thought the game was out of reach they got into the game.

We were weak in the centres and I am certain (though this sticks in my throat

) that had Gibson and Smith been on the pitch a 24 - 0 lead would not have happened. No only was our left flank woefully exposed defensively, we didn't actually force their wingers into any work til after 60 mins...added to the fact Johnson could get the ball to Grant who had a clear overlap...

And as for line speed? I think JK needs to drill them again we gifted them 10m every tackle.

Well that was a disappointing performance and not exactly unexpected. We’ve been slow starters for some weeks and we were made to pay yesterday. That first half “performance” was the reason we lost. I was striking how much more dynamic York looked. They took the ball up quicker, made easy yards and looked really slick and organised. In comparison we rarely got our hands on the ball and when we did we were dominated in the collision and this led to a really slow PTB. We seemed unable to deal with York lying in the ruck, which wasn’t effectively policed. Defensively we were soft. There was some weak contact and we allowed too many offloads. This was across the park with both fringes and the middles guilty. Our line speed was non-existent compared to York who raced up to shut us down very effectively.

Second half we dragged ourselves back into the game gradually. Had Grant not knocked on over the line we might even have won. It was a great effort to get back into it but the better side won. They did everything they needed to do to waste time and slow things down – obviously the plan was to blitz us early and then try and withstand the fightback and it worked.

Things that stood out for me:

Hallas is not a hooker. He’s a decent defender and gives 100% but his service from DH is too slow and inaccurate. He also makes too many iffy decisions whether to run or pass. That might be down to a lack of a call from the 1st receiver sometimes but it happens too often. I prefer Sam in at loose forward where he takes the ball up strongly and has a great engine. We’d have been better going with Halafihi and Flanagan yesterday IMO.

Our halfbacks struggled behind a pack that was second best for the first 40mins. When we did get some ball we didn’t look very convincing. Balls were being caught above heads or players were having to juggle them or check their runs to catch them. The recruitment of Lilley and apparently Liam Finn makes me wonder if Kear thinks we need a change. The contrast with how York moved the ball was stark – abeit they were running against a static defence.

Our game plan needs to take a few more risks as we're too predictable. Some more offloads and getting the ball wider stretched York more in the 2nd half.

Our line speed is non existent. From chatting to a mate at Hunslet this was identified by Gary Thornton and picked up on. We generally move forward a couple of paces then stop to effect the tackle, this allows too many cheap yards in my view and a good side will get on the front foot too easily. Are we not fit enough to defend more aggressively? While we’re organised and nobody rushes out we’re weak on the edges and it showed with tries conceded on both sides yesterday.

This weather doesn’t suit some of our bigger forwards. Callum Bustin really was struggling yesterday even before his knee knock. Liam Kirk has also struggled in the heat. Crossley and Peltier less so. But it means our defence around the ruck can be exploited if the big lads are struggling.

Liam Johnson is a backrow not a centre. The sooner Smith is back the better.

Earn the right first,then throw the ball about.Defence,defence and then more defence.Until they do that,they will always be chasing the game against any team who can actually play a bit.

Defensively we were too passive. York got a quick PTB and were able to run at us when we were back pedalling.

When we had the ball the York line speed meant we weren't getting a roll on. They also left a player in the ruck wherever they could which slowed our already slow dummy half down even more.

Flanagan got us going to a degree but I think he overdid the scoots from DH near the line.

Defensively York did a job on us in that first half.

Dumb question from me...

We know Kirk's a good lad but yesterday it looked like boy v men. Why didn't we get on the phone to Toronto and ask them for help beefing the pack up?

Do we still DR or are Kear/Chalmers happier to go it alone?

It appears to be one of those Dual Reg agreements where absolutely no players end up playing for the "child" club. The only thing the Bulls have had from them on the playing front is Jake Butler-Fleming and that was a loan, not DR.

I still prefer that to clubs like Swinton and Sheffield though who appear to be told which Wigan/Saints players are playing for them this week and their own players have to make way (total speculation by the way...)

I don’t think Kirk is of the quality yet for this kind of opposition, especially on hot day. He’s willing enough but he’s a bit ponderous. He seems to go to ground easily rather than keeping the legs driving and in defence his feet seem to stay planted. In his last year in the 19s he was dominating the opposition but it’s a different matter against grown men. If he’s going to make it I think he’ll be one that comes good later in his career I reckon. Yesterday the more experienced props stood out for us. Kirk and Bustin looked a bit out of their depth. Their times will come.

Just this ^.

I know it's wishful thinking and all academic but imagine the difference if Sidlow had been popped on a plane...we needed brawn and experience in those first 20 mins.

Thought York had blown it when they started off at 100 mph in that heat. It was obvious they couldn't sustain that pace for the eighty and so it proved, but with our mistakes with the ball and rank poor tackling in the threequarters, they, just about, got the advantage they needed in that opening 30 minutes. They were blowing out of their backsides late on though and we should have made them pay to be honest, but we were never steady enough and lacked imagination at times, especially after Keyes went off.

Coulda, shoulda, woulda - but didn't. Congrats to York who took the spoils on the day. It's still all to play for.

Far too many times especially in the first half, they were starting sets near their own line and getting past half way by the 5th tackle with ease

In terms of our halfbacks I've said it before. Chisolm and Keyes don't play well together, there's a marked difference in how we organise when either is off the field.

Both good players in their own rights but they don't seem to have gelled at all. Just my two penneth.

The slow starts are a concern as has been noticed, but is anyone else also concerned about our lack of “big game mentality”? In recent years we seem to have gone to pot in almost every single game that is labelled of some importance. OK, we beat York at the start of the year when both sides were more ring rusty, but when it’s come down to the business end of the season and promotion is practically on a plate, it’s like the players didn’t seem aware of the stakes until half time. It seems this has been a pattern in a few end of year games. We were chasing the game in huge end of the season clashes against Leigh at home in 2015, (almost a carbon copy of yesterday’s game except with the conversion going the wrong way), the MPG vs Wakefield and the less said about Fev in 2016 the better. And no, I don’t count the Championship Shield



The only major game I can remember us winning in the past few years that meant something was Leigh away to get to the Million Pound Game. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t an “the end is nigh” type post, but it is a concern given that after yesterday, we are slightly less likely to go up automatically. If we have to do it via the playoffs, then that’ll be two big games in a row – we have the squad, sure, but the mentality could be cause for concern. I’d have said I trust Kear to get that right given his record, but yesterday was an all too familiar hint of our recent past.

The lack of a natural leader on the field yesterday showed. Its only when George came on and started shouting at them we looked more cohesive. York wanted it more than us, and despite the build up I never felt it was a massive game; we're still in the driving seat, although neither of us can afford to drop points now admittedly.

That initial 20 minutes was keystone cops bad, but we had them on the ropes at the end, and had the game lasted another 5 minutes (5 minutes that the York players wasted though feigning injury and gamesmanship in doing things) we would have beaten them.

I though Chizzy was better when Keys left, but often it takes a big blow for a team to pull together. Having said that the York try from Chizzys kick to Ethan was really bad game management. Why not go for a grubber through and have another 5? Everyone knows Ethans game and plugging it every 5th on the oppositions 20 is getting stale. I hope we can learn from it.

However, if we had won I could see complacency sneaking in the last few games. At least now after this result, it won't happen. [size=50I hope.[/size

Couldn't agree with this more.We really need to develop a backbone to the side, to have some steel for these crunch games. The Halifax games too where we just seem to fall to pieces. It's becoming a worrying habit.

On the issue of big match temperament the side has changed a fair bit since the Leigh game and the Fev fiasco. However we did look taken by surprise by the way York came out of the traps. Maybe we were a bit complacent. The point about us improving when Flanagan came on is a good point. When he came on we started to take control back around the ruck. He also got under the skin of a few in the York side who were having a big say for them up to that point.

On Keyes and Chisholm playing together I’m not sure it’s the combination that’s the issue. Often the pass from dummy half is so off target it forces them to have to re-adjust which then gives the defence time to get in our faces. It was certainly the case yesterday. If the pass off the ground is poor it often causes the whole move to be poor. York made sure they did all they could to make that happen, it was an area where we were out-thought.