Nicely, should help on your Spoons pilgrimage

That's a game we would have lost not so long ago.

Sadly, that bet was a loser. Still, heading for a beer or three now so all is not lost.

Probably the reason I don't do handicap betting. Enjoy the beers.

doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/artic ... -thunder--

doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/artic ... -thunder--

Will do mate, Cheers!

Last two standing. Dons and Bulls. Roll on Good Friday.

Newcastles match report ( it's not in the Steve Hossack style) I liked how we escaped. https://thunderrugby.co.uk/match-report ... caster-22/ Talking of the Great man here is his take on the game https://www.thestar.co.uk/sport/rugby-l ... -1-9082101

Newcastles match report ( it's not in the Steve Hossack style) I liked how we escaped. https://thunderrugby.co.uk/match-report ... caster-22/ Talking of the Great man here is his take on the game https://www.thestar.co.uk/sport/rugby-l ... -1-9082101

My take on things:

We won a game we certainly would have lost last year, with the players we had missing and the knocks we picked up during the game we did well to grind out the result without looking like we got out of 2nd gear. Harris was quiet by his standards so there is a worry about getting going when he has off days, Miloudi was hobbling most of the game but played on and essentially got the winning points.

The defence was pretty strong, Newcastle spent large periods hammering our line with only the 3 tries to show for it. For me they messed up when they chose to kick a penalty to take them 4 points ahead. They had the momentum at that point and that kick didn't make much difference. We then scored a quick brace which did the job.

All in all, we take a good two points and know we were far from at our best

Cheers Jemmo, how much did we miss Howden?

don't forget Cross was missing he's another who can get us going and on the front foot. will have missed him i think.
at least we got the points after a long trip. also Howden missing.

We certainly missed his kicking game, our kicking was OK, but Howden's are a lot more probing.

Howden, Cross, Tali, Owen are all attacking threats that were missing

Sanderson too.

So five players who we rate all unavailable and we still won at Newcastle. Nice position to be in for a pleasant change IMO.

A good win away from home against a team that looked up for the challenge after their drubbing last week.

On the plus side a game we would surely have lost in previous years, given we were outplayed for most of it , as we looked devoid of ideas.

Newcastle were dominant in almost every area of play, and looked to have a totally different mind set to last Friday .
Our line defence was good and it had to be , but our offence and disciple left a lot to be desired.

Penalty after penalty which will cost us games against better opposition for sure.
Our normally creative players hardly featured in the game, with Harris and Miloudi shadows of their normal selves.

I don't think any of the players coming in to the team did themselves any favours with regards to being selected against York, and with the Hull DR I think some of them will see very little game time this season.

Overall a shocking performance but a win , and in tough tight games like these that's all that matters , now bring on York.

Don’t think i was impressed by any of the dual reg. jez litten offered nothing for me and we lost control of the game when he was on. Miloudi was quiet but then one bit of magic he brings us back into the game. Thought England and kesik came back into the team well and I was impressed with hedges.

Hedges has really upped his game this year and has the makings of a quality loose forward. Definitely my man of the match from yesterday

He got my vote too.

Agreed about the DR players .

Hedges is a different player this year at loose but i thought KK gave away too many penalties and looked slow and predictable when compared to Cross and Litten.

His lazy swinging arm cost us at least three penalies, giving Thunder good field position and causing us to do too much defending.

A poor showing from 1 to 17 but a wins a win

The Coach's thoughts on the game www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/a ... eased-with And Charlie Martin's thoughts www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/a ... aises-dons

The Coach's thoughts on the game www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/a ... eased-with And Charlie Martin's thoughts www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/a ... aises-dons

Waiting to see if there's any highlights...but I don't think our second try should have stood

Difference of opinion with regards to kesik then. Game completely changed when he came back on as opposed to litten who failed to make a difference in the game. I only saw 2 penalties and only one was a swinging arm but everyone sees a different game.

Lets agree to disagree Dons 11.
I thought KK was poor along with most of the team but its hard to stand out when your being dominated by your opposition.

I know he will be low on confidence after losing the captaincy and playing second fiddle to Cross and Litten in the hooking role cant help ,but I think the years are starting to tell and he isn't the player he was two or three years ago.

Don't get me wrong, the guy is Donny through and through and his commitment to the club is unquestionable , however the days of him being the first name on the team sheet have gone and as RH looks to play a more expansive game ,with pace across the park I feel his games will be limited.

The Dons tries curtesy of Rob donsstats.co.uk/videos/video_2018.php

The Dons tries curtesy of Rob donsstats.co.uk/videos/video_2018.php

Lucky we got the conversion for that Doherty try considering Miloudi being greedy nearly bombed it when he should have passed inside.

Thought England's run and flick pass for Miloudi's try was class though.