One man made the difference when he came on last night. Take a bow young Morgan Smith



As soon as he stepped into dummy half he controlled the game tieing the markers up and delivering short passed onto the forwards. Not many players hand chop forwards like Kyle Amor in half, never mind a 19 year old lad. His technique is spot on. I know he plays in the gales but he looked like a natural at 9 tonight.

Last night resembled the Hull away game. Poor start, clawed our way back into it by half time. Difference was that against Hull we lost all momentum in 2nd 40 and Sneyd's kicking game kept us pinned in our own half. Big defence, fatigue, points conceded, match lost. 2nd half this week Wire kept possession, dominated territory not through kicking ( nb needs to improve) but through quick PTBs and sharp, direct running.

Far from a champion performance but it does demonstrate how a few small things can turn a game on its head, especially when sides are more evenly matched. As for [ikaretaker[/i, others have pointed out that the term 'happy clapper' writes off all of us who sincerely wish the best for our club ( in my case for well over forty years ) but don't necessarily think that throwing out an established coach during a season with no realistic prospect of finding anyone better is such a great idea. You support the club your way, allow us to support it in ours.

Well I certainly didn't expect that result, especially at 14 down! Fair play to the players for not letting their heads drop. I thought the forwards played well as a group. Ben Westwood is still an important part of the team when he stays (just) on the right side of the ref, the aggression definitely adds a spark.
Livett was excellent and Smith definitely added improved the team when he was on. Fair play to Rhys Evans as well, I had forgotten he could run with the ball!
One swallow etc but onwards and upwards hopefully.
On a side note did anyone else wonder what Phil Clarke was on about at the end, when he predicted Saints to finish top 4 and us much lower. I don't have a problem with his prediction but his reasoning left me completely baffled.

I don't ever listen to anything Phil Clarke says. Saints probably have a lot of players managed by his brother.

What a transformation after 30 minutes. I hope those missing have to work very hard to get back into the side.

I've never really been concerned by Clarke. Shows a little Wigan bias but understandable.

However, just watched the game back and he thought Sts should have had a penalty when Morgans head caught Philbins elbow as he was taking the ball in.

Un-frickin-believable.

I've never really been concerned by Clarke. Shows a little Wigan bias but understandable.

However, just watched the game back and he thought Sts should have had a penalty when Morgans head caught Philbins elbow as he was taking the ball in.

Un-frickin-believable.

Well the elbow vs head COULD have been a penalty. It's one of those you could argue either way, but tho play on or give a standard penalty was the severity of it. Not worth the debate really.

Not really.

Philbin was running it in and the Sts player but his elbow when trying to tackle him.

No way what so ever it was a penalty. Philbins elbow was at his side and didn't move. If someone decides to headbut an elbow it's either unlucky or poor technique.

Whether the ball in on that arm or not, you go into a collision with the elbow out, it's a foul.... It's was marginal and inconclusive so if he'd have been penalised I'd have no complaint.

But his elbow wasn't out...not in the slightest. Pure accident, if they give penalties for that might as well stop playing.

When sky started showing it in slow motion, it looked suspicious, but at full pelt it's an accident

He clearly flicked it out at him. But it's just an instinctive reaction, trying to push off the tackler, nothing in it.

Aah Mr Saddened, we've been expecting you...

His arm didnt move toward him even in slo-mo. Funny how people see things differently

As you can see on here. Ambiguity.
So that's why I said, I'd no complaint if it was a penalty.
Very marginal and slightly harsh had it had been so, but another inch forward and the elbow catch might have been far worse for both players.

Did anyone hear the comment from Cummins when Makinson was penalised for a shoulder charge on Gidley? He said "it wasn't a shoulder charge, he tackled him with his shoulder"?

Morgan Smith and Harvey Livett outstanding for me and after given Evans stick recently he was much better tonight.

How can that squad perform at that level when we are missing top players through injury and international duty, its mind boggling!!

At the risk of accusations of being a 'Smith apologist', Friday's match does show how narrow is the gap between a solid winning performance and a defeat where the team looks clueless. A few passes stick, we get a good share of possession, we're not out-kicked so much that we play 60 minutes in our own half, these things have gone wrong for us often this season. There [iwas [/ia distinct improvement in our urgency and 'go forward', undoubtedly, but it's why I think we are still not far off returning to top-8 form ( probably too late for top-4).

It also shows how emotions can change during the course of the match. I can't have been the only one thinking "expletive deleted" when the kick off went out on the full? Or even more so when Russell went from dummy half in the 2nd (?) tackle and got bundled into touch?
But that is the redemptive nature of sport on occasion, Livett grows into the game, Russell gets the ball away to Evans, and we ALL feel happy.

You weren't very good on Friday IMO. Take away the points you scored from Saints playing like a Benidorm Select 17 and the scoreline would look very different. The real positive for you was that your pack was making metres. You were getting quick play the balls and motoring down the middle with ease. Everything else, you were pretty poor.

"Motoring down the middle with ease" ... will do for me. Praise indeed.

So we made metres down the middle, outpaced your defence, scored lots of tries, but we weren't very good? Got a bit of a "but apart from that what have the Romans ever done for us" vibe going on there Saddo!

Sanitation? Meanwhile over on their board according to Saddened apparently we were there for a complete 'taking' and it was all about them and how bad they were. I didn't want to interject but at 0 v 14 I thought that we were still in it, although I didn't think that we would turn it around as we did and to be fair to our co correspondent Saints made so many errors it was untrue.

The reason that I had a bit of hope was that their first try was a joke, we weren't over run territorially and had crossed their line twice and I thought their second score was against the 'run of play'. I wasn't in my usual spec and was sat in the East and thought yes the players aren't happy going behind, but, their heads hadn't dropped completely from where I was sat

I'm not sure the Romans ever made it to St Helens, which may explain their sanitation issue.
I see your point about not being too concerned about dropping behind but I had a similar feeling at half time against Hull.

"law and order" probably not then case closed....apud Romanos Divae Helenae.

I was a bit concerned on Friday, but, it wasn't like the away game (apart from the first try coming from a mistake) where we were doing absolutely naff all attack wise, holding 0-0 then in the 5 minutes before half time we were 18-0 and it was game over. Although there was a fleeting hope early in the second half on the attack at our end and we blew a great chance (Dwyer forward pass?).

Going in at half time 12-14 exceeded my expectations but when we did it was anyone's game and the way that Saints reacted must have been disappointing for saddened and his pals hope that trend continues