What a pleasure to watch some honest effort and enthusiasm.
Leeds had nearly all the possession in first 10 minutes but were limited to one try.
Wire kept plugging away and overhauled them and took a substantial lead.
The nearest Leeds got was within 6 points in second half but Wire then pulled away again for a comfortable winning margin.
Some good performances today - Grix and McCarthy caught the eye, and the forwards ran well and supported each other.
2 negatives - poor Penny still looks lost in defence and when trying to judge a catch, and the referee was nearly bad enough to earn his place in SL.
Some of his decisions, against both sides, were a joke. No wonder some of the players get frustrated and get involved in a "brawl". The ref had no idea where the shoulders ended and the neck began.
Overall, a most enjoyable afternoon, and I shall certainly be going again to watch this team.
Strange though, walking down Fletcher St again and looking out over the old ground.
Just hope for the same level of effort and enthusiasm tomorrow.

yep it made me feel sad seeing good old wilderspool all rusty and broken down. was thinking about all the historic matches that was played there when i sitting there.

yeah i think this team will do well this year and i shall defo be going to watch them again.

It obviously worked a treat then.

And where were you, Mr JWP?

I did send a woof mail this morning.

I got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one, hit me.

Oh, and it's John.

There was a good canine turnout.

pics online with report now

A couple of years ago i took pictures of Wilderspool before the spring clean with the hedges and weeds etc. If i can find the cd there on i will have to finally put them online. Always nice to go back. Glad we left though.

Blythe was poor to start but came good as the game went on. It was Penny was evident that penny needs support in the reserves, perhaps he had a better supply last week, according to league express Mitchell supplied him well. Cooper was excellent , hope he has somethink else if he gets the call 2moz!!
Gaz o brien shows real prospect but seems too quiet and i think they missed Mitcell/clarke for direction cuz Griz was quiet until he got the 13 position after Mccarthy came off. Overall a scrappy performance but wen you play badly and win comfortably it's a sign of better things.........
heres hoping.

i took a few snaps before a stewerd came over and told me i couldnt take pictures



yeah we needed a new gaff. still its a shame

Was day i was filming for foundation, talking to chambers and penny i think.
Lost the pics on mac.

I thought there was a good turnout overall! I can't remember the last time I saw so many people there?!

The ref didn't have a clue about anatomy.

Or how to count to ten

Just as well, he only needs to count to six.





























































TAXI!

first time at the reserves and at Wilderspool for me.

Thought the reserves played really well after they got up and running towardst the end of the first 10 minutes. Almost as if they asked Leeds the question of "what have you got?" before replying with a beefy "thats not good enough, sorry." Two good tries by McCarthy at the end of the half didnt flatter them at all i dont think.

You are right about Penny, he did not play at all well in my opinion. He just stood out on the wing and it was as if he expected the ball to go all the way out to him every time, and when it didnt he never looked as though he wanted to get into the game. Its alll well and good putting a big slap on to an onrushing player, but it wasnt a tackle that stopped the big Leeds player. Penny was also at fault for Leeds' try towards the end of the game. Why does he always run back into the line with his back to the play? And what is with his little skip before going in to take a tackle? Surely he would do better if he just ran full pelt into the onrushing defence? Momentum might take him somewhere and he would be far more likely to break through the tackle than stopping, doing an irish jig and then getting ten bells knocked out of him?!

Anyway, the one thing that I really did like to see yesterday was McCarthy absolutely itching to get back into the game after he took a knock in the second half. He kept looking up into the stand and almost begging to go back on. Thats the sort of desire you want to see from a group of youngsters in any sport. Thought he played really well and commanded the play well at times in the first half.

(sorry if timings arent right in some of that. Written from memory the day after and all)

There was actually a couple of occasions when I thought he'd messed that up. I'm sure he wiped the tackle count clean, then called last tackle on the next play.

One of the most pleasing aspects for me, was the tracking back right at the end to stop Leeds scoring, even with the game won.

Absolutely tremendous performance from the guys yesterday. showed all the heart and passion our current team lacks. McCarthy has a huge future ahead of him, would not be surprised at all to see him in the 17 within 3 weeks, although I think he would benefit tremendously from a year out on loan somewhere. The young lad who played at 7 was also fantastic, Blythe had a slow first half but showed his talent in the second half. I'm expecting big things from these lads this year and think we could see more than 2 or 3 of them step up.

enjoy...but normal service resumed at HJ !!!

Wilderspool might be looking at bit tatty and rusty in places but now all the overgrowth has been cut back, it actually looks as good if not better than some current SL grounds!

Good performance from the reserves, standouts for me were Cooper, McCarthy and Blythe.

Penny gets some stick and did spill one towering, wind-assisted kick but he didn't receive one pass during the game (I think the other winger only got two) and did put in some decent kick-returns and a couple of decent hits as well. It's almost as though some people want him to fail. He scored 4 tries last week - barely a mention. No passes to him this week and everyone's on his back again.

Any kind soul let me know how they got on.

Ta.

they won 26-16.

shouldn't have been that close to be honest though... Warrington dominated throughout