You've just covered it yourself, defence didn't look a problem because the attacks were so poor. Once the ball started to stick a bit more in the second half the defences started to struggle.

Radford said in his post-match that both sides completed at less than 50% in the first half, that's why not many points were scored.

I knew soon as I posted it, it didn't come out as good as I wanted it to.

What I mean't was they were a lot of big hits and good scrambling defence from both sides which I feel contributed to the amount of errors in the game. Late on with tiring legs is when it started to open up a bit more and the attack flourished but in the first 60 some good defence I thought which stiffled the attack.

I disagree, personally. Poor options and unforced handling errors from both sides saved more points than good defence in the first half IMO. How many times did someone pass to the opposition with the line begging for a teammate?

They were 3 or 4 times which I can remember but they all came in the second half. Briscoe produced an unforced knock on which was a shocker.

Couldn't agree more. Except perhaps we should have been 12-18 points up at half time.

So glad for Rich Horne that the comeback happened and there were smiles at the end. Been a class act for Hull in a superb career and I wish him well in his next job.

East stand definitely got under his skin in the second half, had a right scowl on whenever he was stood still

Good to see the majority of you March on Together for the exits before the end.

Yeaman spilled one he should have gathered in a good position, too. Watkins made a bit of a mess of one IIRC, too. Also Briscoe going for power when they had players queuing up inside with us scrambling. Heremaia not being able to pick out any one of 4 teammates up against a stranded Briscoe (shortly after Horne's break, I think). Ablett(?) looking like he was in at the corner.

There were a lot of chances that at least some should have been finished off.

But showed his class and stayed on the pitch to talk to his former teammates and applaud the crowd as he left.

Ah the Azza four on one, remember that one well as was in line. The Leeds player (not sure who it was ) managed to get a finger on it to deflect the ball behind the Hull players. How much they meant to do it though is a mystery, but was good D to put the pressure on Azza in the first place. Not alot of thinking time for players with ball in hand tonight IMO.

Either way we are not looking at a massive amount of chances which would have racked up a cricket score.

To be honest I thought Azza had a bit of a stinker but good luck to him at Widnes been a good honest servant for us.

Cricket score is OTT, admittedly. But I honestly think several sides would/could have managed 40+ against either of tonight's sides.

he was very good in defence, pulled off a couple of try savers in the 1st half. houghton was very poor in the first half - some terrible passing, but was much better after the break

Don't agree - neither side defended that badly regardless of the errors. There were 2 or 3 chances that each side coughed but maybe other sides would have suffered with the allegedly 'dewy' conditions in the same way.

We will never know, so they is no right or wrong answer here.

Personally I don't think they would have, saying we would have scored far less is probably a more accurate statement in my eyes as not many teams would have self destructed like Leeds did in that last quarter.

Bearing in mind that had Rankin had his kicking boots on we'd have hit 30, you don't think, say, Wigan could have maybe managed just 2-3 more tries than we did from the opportunities we bombed?

It depends how Wigan were playing I suppose. Certainly not guaranteed.

Hence why my first post on the subject said a 'firing' Wigan/Wire/Hudds.

Fair enough, we'll have to agree to disagree.

Fair enough. I guess a firing FC put 18 points on without reply in the last 20 thankfully so all was well.

In general it's not unusual for FC fans to try to find ways of playing down a win or finding reasons why it wasn't a very good win so to speak. I'm not sure the big team's fans are that bothered if they have a scratchy result - they just move on to the next game. Not aiming this at you specifically but it's noticeable that FC fans like to play down a victory if at all possible. We were poor for 50 mins tonight as were Leeds but imagine how many games that other sides play in that are the same. I'm not sure they worry as much about how bad the opposition were as we seem to do.

Appreciate that point, I'm just not wanting to get carried away by tonight as Leeds are on a poor run and the first half was not good.

I'm not actually saying that the defences were bad, just that the opportunities were there for both sides to score good points both first and second half. Cough up that much possession, position, and a few penalties against a top side and usually they'll have the execution to make you pay, it takes impeccable defence to hold out.

Nobody is in any danger of getting carried away. Neither is it necessary to downplay our performance nor invent imaginary scenarios where things might have gone really badly in order to view the performance in proper perspective.

I'm constantly surprised at the number of FC fans who wholeheartedly embrace alternate Universe theory.

Agreed.
One of Bombers better signings and one of our more consistent larkers the last three seasons.
Au revoir Azza.

agar signing surely?

Correct.


Bomber responsible for his one year contract extension after he'd done his initial two.