Excellent performance from the youngsters today, Dean Thompson stepped into Kohe Love's boots and excelled in the centre along with Shane Grady. I couldnt pick any faults from today as everyone was excellent. What is impressive is the running lines Cullen has installed into them, runners everyhwere off the ball and it caused the Cougars numerpus problems.


Impressive

Team today was

1. Scott Yates
2. Matt Gardner
3. Shane Grady
4. Dean Thompson
5. Richard Varkulis
6. Anthony Thackeray
7. James Webster
8. Jim Gannon
9. Mark Smith
10. Ben Kavanagh
11. Lee Doran
12. Liam Farrell
13. Dave Allen

14. Thomas Coyle
15. Chris Gerrard
16. Dave Houghton
17. Ben Davies

Missing

James Ford
Toa Kohe Love
Chris Dean
Paddy Flynn
Dean Gaskell
Gareth Haggerty
Steve Pickersgill

Obviously plenty of positives to take from the game.

You've got a 72 points to 10 lead in the last minute and we're running for a scrum to get more points. That's a motivated team. Grady has bulked up, some were questioning whether he would make the grade but I think we should definitely be looking at him as a fixture of the future no matter what the division. We're missing players and we essentually beat an undefeated team by a landslide. We can find gaps even on a packed wing because the dummy running is pretty good. We've got strong forwards with men in reserve.

MOM was between Grady and Farrell. It will be sad to see him go when he does, but I can see him playing for Wigan in the forseeable future.

Liam Farrell is awesome, Ben Davies is also a tough lad and runs it in with real sting. Grady and Thompson were both very impressive today as was Houghton once again.

Correct. Thompson and Houghton were brilliant. What was all that fighting about? I have no idea why we felt the need to get involved. I saw a player taken off the ball but it got a bit hazy after that. We could have ended up with players banned in a game we had already won by miles.

I was surprised just how poor Keighley were, considering the results they’ve had recently. I thought they’d be much better. They rarely completed a set and were really undisciplined; holding down all the time. They had no kicking game worthy of the name; except for some of their short re-start kicks. Their tackling was woeful too.

Much of the blame for this much go to the way Widnes played. We were outstanding, and I can’t help feeling that there’s even more to come. Given the injuries we have, that was excellent. They were [i‘throwing the ball about like an ‘ot spud’[/i as Doug Loughton would say. There were lots of options with runners making themselves available. There also looks to be a real team spirit and belief in the way they are playing.

Our youngsters are really starting to make their mark this season too. Grady is starting to bloom, and was probably MOM again. Thompson is looking like a genuinely good prospect, and I think Houghton outshone Ben Davis, and was once again having a massive impact when coming off the bench. I’m glad Yacca got a chance at FB. Apart from his little spill on the line in the first half, he was pretty solid; although he wasn’t really tested by Keighley. He set up Coyle, with and excellent break and scored a cracker towards the end. Hopefully that will help to build his confidence.

The Wiganers are right about Liam Farrell, he really is going to be a star. He’s a cracking ball handler and his defencive effort is second to none.

Coyle looked lively too. Cullen has him, not only spelling Smithy, but also uses him to spell both Thacks and Webster. That would be a nightmare for the opposition, and will give them a lot to think about.

This sends out a strong message to the rest and, if we can get a few of our injured players back soon, we can only get better!.

Bravo Widnes,looks like you showed us how to play the beautiful game.

welcome to the championship

anyone know why laughton didn't come back on?

Grady man of the match but i thought farrell,thompson,houghton and allen where also very good.

Said he was feeling ill.

Impossible to look past Liam Farrell for MOM. Outstanding in that first half and Keighley really couldnt cope with him outwide.

As has already been said though great displays from Shane again in the centres and Dean Thompson who did as much as he could to keep himself in Cull's plans. I think on some of the occassions it would have been easier to put Varks away but someone obviously had a point to prove

.

Pack was dominant throughout ( What a pleasant change that is !) and I thought our best spell was with Houghton and Davies on the field. Both got great footwork.

Absolutely no complaints. All good performances and if we where that little bit more clinical we possibly could have racked up 90 which is nice to consider.

Great to watch a group of young lads assisted by the older heads in Webbo, Gannon, Doran and Smith.

I think we will lose some games this year because of the naivity and inexperience of some of the young players but when it all goes right like today it was and will be great to watch.

I agree, you could quite easily have gave the MOM to any of the above.

Although Chris Dean is a very good player - what are we going to do if TKL is fit and Saints allow us to play Dean? Before the season started most people probably would have chosen Dean and TKL as the 1st choice centres, but after that performance it would be harsh to drop either Grady or Thompson.

For the Judes games I'd go with the same 17 or maybe give Hulme, Mullally or Crompton a go as well.

I did read somewhere that a lot of Keighley's victories come off the back of roughing up the opposition and spoiling etc. I suppose that tactic is ok, but what do you do when your pack is getting dominated like today? They don't look the biggest of sides and will struggle if the try the same tactics against a lot teams in our division. Almost every team in the Championship seems to have built their team around having a massive pack. It must have been a very imposing sight for Keighley considering we had size all around the pitch. I mean Thompson and Varkulis centre/wing partnership? not many teams have got the size out wide to cope with these types of players. We weren't exactly small on the other side of the park either with Grady and Gardner.

Well done Widnes you played really well today. Give us Cougar travelling fans a hint of what to expect this season. Really enjoyed the hospitality and was impressed with the ground and facilities. Well done. Met some nice people today. Good Luck

Thanks goosey and im really glad you enjoyed your day, as for on the pitch im sure the Cougars can play a lot better than that so keep your chins up.

Cheers mate hope you pick up some points this year.Be difficult with a 9 point reduction.Hopefully we will be the strongest side you will play all season.

Farrell certainly my MOM today, Grady was fantastic but for 80 mins Farrell was a constant thorn in there side running great lines (as mentioned all the lads are recently) and simply looked outstanding!

Agree Houghton currently outshining Davies but great to have two youg props out there (as well as Kavanagh).

I enjoyed the game fully today which as a lot of my lot said has been rare in this league... this wasn't just Widnes beating a poor side, I thought we played really, really well today and made some good breaks and scored some great tries!

Credit to the Cougars for going until the end, and i'm glad those who visited enjoyed themselves! Danny Jones seems a cracking player as well (7).

I don't think any of you understand.

Farrell had a [iterrible[/i game full of woe and there is [ino point[/i Wigan recalling him in the near future. I am sure we will give him a chance or two in the coming weeks to make up for such a terrible start.

this lads far cleverer than the rest of you

I can't wait to seen Keighley play Leigh, I think that will be very "testing" to say the least, I would also like to say well done to both sides for keeping a lid on it in the 2nd half, the ref would have been out of his depth, but well done for stepping up to the mark, tell me it wasn't a bug Ronnie was feeling poorly with, I hope he is better for next week.

I've been a critic of Grady in the past but if he keeps this form up it'd be cruel to drop him.

Great point!

Fans will need to be patient and try to see the bigger picture.