maybe you should have took more advantage of the 6 on the trot penalties in the 1st qtr an got a few more pts on board.....seems to me our half time team talk was a bit more constructive than yours......the ref was poor full stop....if you feel he helped us through then fair do's......whoever you get at home you should do em

Leigh had a good 1st 30 mins and took advantage well of the period when Stokesy was handing Leigh the penalties. Then came the second half. The try called for obstruction looked harsh live without the befnefit of the telly. We all reckoned it was a bloody good try. The try pulled for a forrad pass I've seen given on so many other very similar occassions.
That said, on half time when Leigh scored my mate suggested that that would be the last Leigh try of the game and I said Leigh would tire in the second half.
Notwithstanding the referees performance, those two predictions were accurate and critical to the final result.
The final score flattered us. It was a niggly, oft bad tempered game which will see Leigh and Fev missing players for the final should Leigh get there.

Leigh played well and set off like a house on fire. i didn't think they'd keep that pace up for the full 80 - they didn't. But in the final I have a feeling we'll be missing 2 first choice props. That may well even up the score somewhat if yoy beat Sunday's winners

i dont get what you are saying? what was it not?....i said it was one of the worst [u'i've'[/u ever seen.....if other people dont think it was than fair do's

Agree the ref had a shocker, reffed it 1 eyed.

Gave everything to Leigh in the first 30 and then levelled it up in the second half.

As for the head high shot, it was disgraceful and malicious. The 'hit him harder' commenter needs to get a grip and have a word with himself.

On another note, good to see old friends again tonight and hope to share a pint in Warrington once you beat sheff or fax.

The ref ruined a game that was turning in to absolute cracker,scoreline flattered Fev,they could have been down to 11 men,the trip and Dickens kicking Ostick in the head.I dont condone Henderson`s action`s but you could probably understand his frustration.
Even Noble and Henderson could not believe some of the desicions.

At the end of the day, even with all the cheating from Smith and Stokesy, it was four tries to three. We did score again RFF. Stokes and Smith chose not to give them. Had you had had two tries disallowed like that at such a crucial stage, I do not think Georgie would have got out of Post Office Road alive. Put it this way, had he given them both, would you have felt badly done to? I think Leigh had a good first forty. That is why you only breached our line once in the first half, despite getting more pens than us in that period and we crossed for three. The game has gone now and we move on. However, I do feel that if Fev had been on the receiving end of what Leigh were tonight, their fans would not be highlighting tiredness. I tend to think they'd feel robbed, just as we do.

The Ref gave Leigh a few penalties in the first 15 minutes, after that it was one way traffic. He gave one of the most one eyed performances I've ever seen. 2 good tries disallowed. On balance Fev probably deserved the win but the officials handed it to them.

The match changed when Mr Powell had a go at the ref in the tunnel at half times

We had a phone call from my nephew who said that PowelL was having a right go at him

Definitely a game of two halves:

Leigh were awesome first half, we were poor. Stokes was garbage all game. I was fuming at half time and assumed he'd come on your bus.

Second half, we upped our game and Leigh tired, Stokes seemed to have come out wearing a blue and white vest.

In the end, we deserved our win, but the scoreline flattered us greatly.

Stokes should not be allowed to referee at this level again, he ruined what should have been a great game.

Some dirty stuff too, that will probably see us both depleted come the final, which I hope you get to.

like someone said when the commentary team keep saying that was harsh,whys that not a knock on,thats a try for me the player wouldnt have got within 10 metres of riddys break.that was a flat pass for me henderson said.ref was deffo got at by powell and to let him be swayed to ref the second half like that he should never be allowed near such an important game again.
for gods sake people have travelled a long way and spent good money to watch a referee (use that word loosly)totally spoil a game that was gonna be a blinder.is it any wonder that some fans dont return when you see officiating like that.

I think if you watch the game back, you'll find all the talk of Leigh getting everything for the first forty, is a complete exaggeration. Leigh got several penalties in the first fifteen or twenty mins. For the remaining sixty mins he absolutely caned Leigh on the pens and ruled out two tries at a crucial time. Most of the top six sides in the championship would never lose a match all season with reffing like you got tonight.

I thought the game tonight was very poor. We made far too many mistakes and I thought Leigh came with a game plan that almost worked. The ref in my opinion was poor for both sides but without seeing the game again we had some important decisions that went our way at crucial times.

The most disapointing thing for me was watching the Leigh number 3 asking the ref to put the punch up on report in order to get our players into trouble. It's the kind of thing a football player would do, very poor and not required in my opinion.

MR Stolkes has recently been awarded a full time contract too

dont you mean that someone has put a contract out on him or is that wishfull thinking i suppose

I'm with you underthesticks. The ref gave us plenty for 15 minutes and then redressed the balance for the remainder of the half hence Fev being in our half for most of the half.

We should have scored early in 2nd half but Ridy decided not to pass for some reason and then the ref went into "I hate Leigh" mode again. I can't recall seeing a refereeing performance that one sided since Mr Whitelamb against Sheffield at HP many years ago. It was blatently in favour of Featherstone.

Of course we came with a game plan but the usual Fev plan of lying on and wrestling in the tackle went unpunished as always. On a flat track with a ref who wants to see quick play the balls I think we'd win with our best team.

We did put down some good chances and gifted them two tries as well which was disappointing.

The ref has had better games, he made a few mistakes as they all do but he was not responsible for the loss. The responsibility for the loss rests with whoever decided to take on Featherstone up the middle AGAIN. It never works.

cant believe what I am reading about the ref, He gave you lot a start and murdered us for 25 minutes. We were all going mad about him. He never gave us a chance in the first half and was forever relieving you of any pressure.

I have watched the game back and non of the second half decisions were controversial. just a team giving away silly pens when under pressure. we upped the tempo and you couldn't handle it.

sour grapes i think

Officiating aside it's a double contract with Turley too

Was he the myopic fool on the Bullock Stand side that didn't see Finn get stamped on right under his nose?

Fev improved 2nd half, we needed to score a try from our own half 'kinda thing' as Fev were playing downhill, and we hardly had the ball in their half. I think (red & white tinted specs) that we were unlucky with the final scoreline, dunno if Ridyard try decision was correct, but when it was disallowed said to my mate "that's it now".
Rightly or wrongly we got caned in the penalties 2nd half, and we didn't stand a chance.
Last 15/20 minutes 1st half they spent a lot of time attacking our line, we defended brilliantly.
But after 40 minutes, Rovers looked a lot better, and if you are a Leigh fan, 'Ginger Ref' is the reason we lost.
He isn't, but the scoreline could have been a lot closer.

Also, for the Fev fans saying the ref 'caned' them in the 1st half, Premier stated that they went into half time 13 - 7 up in the penalty count, then were 7 - 2 up at one point in the 2nd half and also at one point had been awarded 8 consecutive penalties. All of which were for 'technical' offences. We were absolutely murdered tonight by the ref. Fev played the better rugby for sure, but we can't play without the ball!! We must have been knackered by 60 mins due to the non stop defending we were FORCED into doing by the clueless moron in the middle.

Disgraceful tonight from Stokes.

Anyone know what the penalty count for the whole game was?

45-3

Well I was at the game and thought both our attack and defence first half was impressive.

Re the ref he gave us penalties for 15 minutes and to me it looked like everything he gave after that was in Fev's favour. Well I am biased.

Re the obstruction and forward pass tries that we had disallowed first one looked a good try and the pass for the other one definately did not look forward to me.

I don't have the benefit of replays being at the game of course but I thought Stokes was worth 4 out of 10.

He had a bad game but even I make mistakes.

Well. Another bite of the cherry next week.