Taking quite a bit of stick off the pitch Agar not happy as mentioned in commentry,going to complain!!
To many of his players with cuts and grazes!!

Your thoughts..

Here in the North East I'm involved with Stockton RUFC. Gosforth have the same pitch as Widnes and we played on it a few weeks ago. The main complaint from the players was grazes on arms and knees. Walking on it before and after the game I didn't think there was enough 'give' in it. Mind you, I think the main injury problems for Wakefield were caused by high tackles. Steve Pickersgill hasn't changed a bit. Him and Willie Isa are penalty machines.

I have played 5 a side football on a few of these pitches,the thing is with the cuts and grazes they really sting and they weep quite a lot depending on how deep the burn goes,Murder in bed and the sheets stick to them!!

Anyone catch that nasty looking graze on Mathers elbow when he was walking back after scoring, thought they said this wouldn't be a problem?

The several tons of sand they put on it can't help.

Is this Widnes pitch like that astroturf they had in the 90s?

We had one of them pitches built at our school, they made a massive thing about it in all the promotional material to the parents and whatever that we had some state of the art facility. When we went back for the new school year first games lesson of the year I scored with a header and copied that Klinsmann celebration that he'd done on his debut at Spurs (it was around this time) and I pretty much needed skin grafts. Still got the patches of scar tissue on my forearms and knees today.

The 90s didnt Q,P,R and Luton Town have these pitches installed???
No Good for a good old Fashioned slide tackle or in Sals case a Klinsman celebration.

What sort of header are we talking? Glance or middle of the box, hung in the air bullet into the corner?

I saw someone yesterday, who had played on Widnes' pitch on Wed. night. His knee was a bit of a mess, not too deep, but there was no skin left on his knee cap. The outer layer was completely gone and it looked ripe for infection.

I hope the Wakey Physio brought the TCP.

I can see this pitch being a one season wonder at a hefty cost rather than a money making venture

Saw the title of this thread, and I thought it was Shaun Wane's tackling tactics for the season

Widnes Viking players are going to look like a bloody Bodyworlds exhibition by the end of the season.

did anyone see ah vans attempt at a goal kick?

what a waste of a goalkicker..... i cant believe widnes let him kick goals.

[size=150Ah Van fielding a high bomb in September[/size



[size=150Scott Moore going over for a try[/size



[size=150Hanbury and Dean doing a nice little run around[/size

Probably me wincing with my eyes closed, the ball hitting the top of my head and looping over the keeper.

Who installed it?

CarpetRight?

Wonder how long it will be before a widnes player develops septicaemia.

Wait till the new mascot Polyma has got carpet burns..............

I remember some comments around xmas that there was a delay in laying the pitch due to it being to wet. Well the weather didnt appear to improve any, but they still got it down. Wonder if incorrect laying of the surface may be contributing?

The thread title could also be used to describe Pickersgill & Moore's contribution to last night.

Hate to diss a player but what on earth were widnes thinking giving Pickersgill a SL contract.

He had plenty of opportunity at Warrington and basically proved he wasnt up to SL standard. All I can think is that Widnes were desperate and had no other options.

Incidentally I thought Clarke was shocking last night but in fairness to him it looked like he carried an injury into the game.

Knee Pads (like Brian Bevan's) plus elbow pads or long sleeves are a must. Who wants scabs if they can avoid it?

Got to agree with all that. The lack of depth at Widnes was shown up by what was on the Bench.

Going to be a long hard season for this widnes side.

I've played football on this sort of pitch before and, yes, if you go on with bare knees and elbows you'll lose a lot of skin and it'll hurt.

Wear something thin over the top of your joints - like the skins they have in American Football - and it's fine. Apparently Ben Cockayne was the only person bright enough (!) to do so last night.