couldn't agree with you more on that point to be honest
youngsters again shining but how long will it be till super league calls?
alot more organised tonight, webster took charge for once and mark smith comanded the ruck well making several breaks
ostick made a few huge tackles and looks an outstanding player for the future

Only opinions of yourselves so far

How did you rate Gateshead ?

Ostick and Flynn have been outstanding thus far, i wouldnt be surprised if either are attracting attention.

Took their chances well when they got them, they got stuck in.

Thought they were pretty poor overall, we are still clicking together slowly and like i said on a slightly better day we could have hit the 60 mark.

Massive improvement on last week but still plenty of work to do.

They didn't tire late on like a lot of clubs seem to do in this competition.

I expected better from Gateshead, but to be fair to them, they did take their opportunities. I thought their last try, although we should have dealt with the high ball far better than we did, was quite well worked.

Ostick really is one for the future. Yates and Flynn both did well. Grady seems to have found some hidden strength, thought he ran the ball in well tonight.

Overall, an improved performance.

Enjoyed the game tonight. Some good stuff and a massive improvement in attack, flair, and all 3 half backs gave good direction and support play along with smigga.. There are still areas for improvement of course, but what a difference straight away..

It seems some widnes fans want a 100% perfect performance each week!! oh and the best i heard was that - Apparentely Webster was hiding on the wing 4 most of the game







I expected more from Gateshead tbh, their discipline was poor overall, they did take their chances well tho'...

I could not compare the performance against Oldham as I was not there but there were times I thought I`d just stepped out of my time machine and was back in the good old days



Ref stopped momentum on a few occations with pens against us which I cannot explain and let them lie on us after tackles were made but overall not too bad.

The boys looked like more of a team and support play was bob on.
Great to see the ball being passed freely and IMO whatever Stanky and crew have done need to bottle it up and use it every week.

We took the peddle of the gas after 60 mins but that was prob after the "lightening start "

New start and I hope its the start of good things to come .

Considering that McCormack only left on Monday I think the changes were there for all to see.
Without wanting to cover too much old ground I thought the effort to move the ball around was great and things were definately being done a lot quicker. There were some wild passes being thrown but I think with time these will vanish.
Great effort by the young lads and Yates in particular had a great game for me.
More importantly it was good to watch!!!
I agree with my mate that with a little time the organisation between Duffy, Smith, Thackray and Webster will improve and we should really begin to see some exciting stuff on the pitch.

Re Gateshead.. at times they looked decent but after not too long it became obvious that they were purely interested in spoiling tactics they could have had another two people sin-binned over the two that they actually did.

Things are definately a bit rosier in the Widnes garden this morning.. I'm looking forward to the improvements continuing.

Two Words:


Horse Shit.

As a question, are you seeing refs slowing down PTB by allowing wrestle?
So far this has been hit and miss from what I have seen, would be interesting to know how the laws will be interpreted in NL1/Championship.

From what i've seen in the last 2 games it would appear the tackling player is being given an extra second or so to release the tackled player. Interference ie lifting of legs hands on ball etc are still being penalised...

Personally i don't like it. As soon as the tackle is effected the player should be released immediately IMHO.. Will be interesting to see if this is one of those rules that gets introduced then in abandonned after a few months...

Nes

www.widnesvikings.co.uk/home.php?video=play Highlights, Paddys break. mint That lad has a bright future and not forgeting Yacca good support and finishing.

www.widnesvikings.co.uk/home.php?video=play Highlights, Paddys break. mint That lad has a bright future and not forgeting Yacca good support and finishing.

Where was Paul Cook for the second half.

Ostick will be off at the first chance he gets.

The club treated him shockingly at the end of last season, and I'm sure any loyalty he had has vanished.

He's playing out of his skin and if a move to SL comes his way then I couldn't really blame him if he went.

I'm not sure you can blame the club as a whole. I won't pretend to know the full facts but Ste McCormack overlooked the younger players time after time. One of 1st things he did at Widnes was to get rid of the youth players that were there at the time. Even last year, when we had to start from scratch, the younger lads were by and large ignored when it came to the league campaign. The season may have started with many youngsters in the team, but when we went to Celtic in the league, we didn't have one youth player in the squad - even Celtic had 1 or 2 - how embarrasing.

A few stats from the league campaign last year:
Matt Strong 4 starts
Josh Simm 0 starts
Michael Ostick 0 starts
Shane Grady 2 starts
Rob Draper 0 starts
Dayne Donoghue 2 starts

You can't blame the club officials if they weren't going to offer Ostick a new contract (but then realised he had another year to go). How many other players who are coming to the age of 21 are kept on if they are not getting into the 1st team on a regular basis. IMO and as I've said I've not got access to the inside facts, it looks to me like Ostick was going to be overlooked as a direct result of Steve McCormack's playing policy - do you really think the club would have wanted to get rid of him if he'd been in the team every week and playing well?

His stand out form in pre-season this year has meant he couldn't realistically be left out, but what you are saying is its too late for the club to make ammends. I just hope Michael gives the club the benefit of the doubt and that the comments you have made are just your own and not necessarily what Michael Ostick thinks.

What super league call? There is no chance for yourselves, us (Leigh) or Halifax. It will be an odds on bet for Toulouse and Gateshead. Expansion, Red Hall calls it. A scam I call it. And bet your boots Salford and Celtic weon't be relegated wherever they finish - it will probably be Wakefield and Cas.

Sorry about that - it wasn't from scooter nik - it was from his dad - a supporter of Leigh (mainly through bad, but occasionally good!) since 1945

He meant how long before a SL club takes the likes of Ostick off our hands.

Try plenty of soapy water. Dab your hands dry then remove the glue with a nail file. You can also try rubbing ice on it or nail varnish remover.

Interesting new sig there, Vic.

Have you been reading my posts on the TIW board?

'Don't let the s grind you down'

Adjusted to reflect the interesting fact that we are STILL undisputed European Champions.



As for my defiant 'latin' that was added following the decision made [iby you know who[/i about [iyou know what[/i on [iyou know what [/ithat meant we were no longer gonna be in [iyou know what[/i much to the disgruntlement of [iyou know who[/i. These tablets the doc has prescribed me doesn't let me think about that day. (Anyway, you robbing get I've just seen that post of yours with that comment!)

Employment at Widnes RLFC should come with a health warning, be it kit man, tea lady, chairman, cleaner upper of e houses, steward, chairman, PA announcer, barman, player, coach you will be under scrutiny.

Please except my humble apologies. I didn't realise it was already there in your sig. It's sort of a catch phrase at work, and has been for some time.

Things are getting quite bad on the TIW board at the moment. I really can't understand why.