celtic got what they deserved. giving away a penalty on the last tackle... for holding down

Salford-Crusaders 4,026

slowly slowly


can't imagine celtic having brought too many
now the return fixyure could be embarrassing

And yet again, a much improved performance in the second half. The game turned when Matty Smith was more involved with Jace Van Dijk off the field.

I don't think Celtic supporters have anything to worry about. There were some beautifully crafted tries by Celtic; far better than those scored by Salford.

Your guys need to get quicker, get more disciplined (Salford would never have come back into the game if that laying on hadn't happened, bringing about the penalty) and have a good deal more game time to gel properly and just generally adjust to Superleague. I'm amazed at what Celtic do after what? Two matches and a week's worth of training time? And their first two games are away? They've had it tough and yet have not disgraced themselves in either game, and Salford did not play especially cleanly tonight either. I reckon everything will gradually come together for Celtic. There's too much talent in that side for it not to.

I also hope you don't have to play at 7.30 in the evening again. That is just plain stupid and very unfair on the fans.

They need to wake up for the first 20 minutes, then they might start winning some games.

True. There was mention of that by the Sky guys after the match tonight. It seems they stay overnight in a hotel or something and may not be making best use of the waiting time prior to the game, or it could simply be that they haven't played at enough SL matches yet to get going quick enough. Hopefully it will get sorted soon as they look like they could really make a go of this, assuming the troubles at the club aren't significant.

Come back? Are you aware that Salford were the team in Red that were 20-0 up and never behind?

Oh, and Blakejake - you are a bit silly aren't you? Was that Salford "getting pumped" again?

At the end of the day we won!!!
but we still get criticised :S
how do you know Salford would not have come back if we were getting beat??? The fact is u dont know mate, we didnt need to come back because we ripped through them in the first 20 minutes

Just wondering why Jordan James wasn't playing? I've got him on my fantasy team you see

That's a silly thing to say.

Wire were 14-0 up on us on Friday, we came back at them to win because we [inever let them back in[/i.

Had Celtic not given away that silly penalty when they were clearly dominating you with just four points difference between you then they had a chance of winning the match. But by giving you that penalty and the subsequent try (tries often coming off the back of penalties as close as that one was to the line) then there's a possibility you would not have gotten back into the game and gone on to win. You might have; but after that try was scored Celtic lost the plot. Sometimes it is all down to how a team reacts to punishment that determines the outcome of the game and from a neutral's POV watching the match live on TV it looked to me like Celtic gave you the game in the end. No doubting that you were the stronger outfit in the first half. But they matched you in the second until that point.

This is Celtic's board so I guess the chances are those of us on here want to comment more on Celtic than on Salford. Salford have been in SL before, they have a coach who has coached and won stuff in SL before, whereas Celtic have neither experience and so far as I'm aware have only one team member in Matty Smith who has actually played in the SL before. They merit every encouragement IMO to keep at it and every credit for what they have achieved so far given these facts and also their terrible pre-season situation. If you can't see past your own club then that's sad but many of us can. Even up here in the so-called heartlands.

i must admit, i was VERY impressed with the quality of the game last night

amazing the step up in quality from last season - which allpoint well for the future.
i thought the handling, attitude and general entertainment value was excellent.
these 2 teams may finish at the bottom of the pile come the end of the season, but i think crusaders should be confident that they will very quickly establish themselves as a difficult team to play against.

given the shortness of its existence, the Club can be proud of the display it is putting up. heres hoping for a good crowd next week, and hopefully a first win in the near future.

certainly looking forward to popping down to brewery field quite regularly, and seeing the introduction of a few more welsh lads (altho crsaders have nothing to feel ashamed of at the moment, when warriors are playing so few locals)

Firstly, forgive me for the following comments if they are incorrect but I was at the game and have not seen any replays. I grant you that Celtic's 2nd try was good rugby and probably the best of the game but what was "beautifully crafted" about their other two? The first was a fortunate ricochet from a grubber and the third was as much down to poor tackling as Tony Duggans brilliance. What about the delayed pass for Sibbitts try? No credit for that then?

Spot on mate, after all we did it on more than one occasion last season against Celtic.

It was an exciting game to watch, the Crusaders need to play their 1st halves like they do their second!

Gosh, some Salford fans on this Celtic board are really defensive!

I compared Salford and Celtic tries, I didn't say Celtic's tries were the best I've ever seen or something. Within the context of the game, most of Celtic's tries were better crafted than Salford's. It is when a team has to do real battle against defence that invariably they craft better tries - they generally have to in order to get to the tryline. One of their tries (the first or second, I can't remember) was outstanding and the best in the match. That doesn't mean that Salford won't craft some excellent tries in the future, just that theirs didn't impress me on this occasion in the way that Celtic's did.

As for Celtic, I hope they find their first half play because then they really will kick off. Celtic are the real new boys to SL. Salford have been here before and have an SL savvy coach. I'm personally really keen to see RL develop in South Wales and to see Celtic take off as a club. I hope they can really improve week on week and spring surprises as the season progresses.

What a load of toss!

Sorry to be rude, but you're an idiot!

I like Celtic being in Superleague as much as the next man, but if someone goes on a board, whatever board that is and slags off one team, he should expect some 'defensive fans' coming on to defend their team.

It's shows your ignorance to the game when you do not notice well constructed tries - two of which Salford's were.

Both Salford and Celtic are new to Superleague based on the majority of their current playing squads. Whether we've been here before with the vast majority of a different set of players shouldn't really make much of a difference.

As I said at the start, you're an idiot in my opinion.

Hmm. This is Celtic's board. And it is just so childish to speak of slagging off. Sounds like life on the school yard. What did I say exactly? That I thought Celtic produced more creative tries than Salford? Well feck me. Must remember not to express an opinion that does not include 'Salford is the best team in Superleague' from now on.




Good job I wasn't seeking your opinion then, isn't it?

Sorry Saints fan, i've just seen the tries again on the SL show and i've seen nothing to change my opinion. Stapletons try came from a break and offload by Alker, well supported down the middle by Fitzpatrick. Mylers came from him hitting the ball at pace from the scrum. Henry's was probably the scrapiest of the lot but did include some good offloading and Sibbitts try came from a perfectly timed pass from Smith. The first Celtic try came from a fortunate ricochet from a grubber. Duggans first as I said previously was probably the best of the game and his 2nd was poor defence. If the ref had gone to the screen it is debatable whether it would have been given but that's another matter.

Please explain what you thought was beautifully crafted about their 1st and 3rd tries. I'm not being defensive now, just curious.

I've just seen the highlights on Boots'n'All and what impressed me was simply that they got around your defences, which were better than theirs, whereas Salford met with little resistence for most of the match. I was watching the game as a neutral. The bottom line for me is so long as Saints win, who cares? But I also love RL and I'm also very interested in how Celtic do as they are the only real new boys in this comp. Your lads have been here before, so has your coach. Even Castleford weren't new last year as they'd bounced up and down a couple of times. But Celtic are the truly new side with a coach who hasn't experienced SL before, so I'm really interested in how they develop. Maybe that coloured my perspective but even so, if they can work as they did for about 30 minutes in the second half for the full 80 then with their ability to create tries when confronted with good defences as well as their defensive ability as displayed at Leeds then they really could upset some applecarts.

That's not to say Salford wont or that Salford are any the less a team or anything. I think I'll feel able to comment on Salford's play when they are matched against one of the regular SL teams because Salford had it relatively easy at the weekend. Celtic were all over the place for most of the first half and so Salford's tries, though successful, were pretty straightforward. Again, no criticism of Salford. They got the two points and sometimes games are just like that. But pit Salford against Leeds or Huddersfield or Saints or even Wigan on a good day (

) and then I guess I'll be able to see better what they are made of.

I give up. Are you a politician?

almost as bad as your attendence

WHAT A COMPLETE LOAD OF BOLLOX !!!