Attendance given as 903- not sure whether I believe that but it is what it is. It turns out Crash was right that was a game we should have won. We made too many errors in bad places in the 1st half and the ref spotted them all. Walker had a good debut. Parata and Bienek did well. I thought Leyland was really good in second half and as York tired ( rather than us) we pulled the strings. Their 3rd try towards end of the first half was a farce. Big old unit ran half the length of the pitch and no one was able t9 stop him. As you know I’m no expert but I’m not sure about Macani. He seems not t9 have confidence in his speed and bombed one on the line again. Basically though it was stupidity by some players that lost us it. Mocedreike is really busy but he seems to panic and waft the ball on the last time and time again. . Tuilatu On a 6 again on the line got himself r7. Over the dead ball line and Latu made a break andthen kicked the ball losing possession as opposed to us scoring. Basically a game worth watching but 2 points thrown away. York won’t weary the top 4.

1. Close game, but 0-5 it is
2. Sub 1,000 gate. Not a lot else to say here just yet, but 2200/1400/900 is not good
3. Anyone believe that the matchday sponsor paid £1,500?
4. A busy bar is the result of fans enjoying the game and staying in the zone.
5. 2 week break now before Barrow away and Bradford at home....
6. If they'd anything about them, the BOSG would have been madly flogging Leigh coach tickets in the bar.
7. For the first time this year inset my alarm for this game but hit snooze....
8. Next home game we might get1,500+…...Bradford are on a roll!

I've been following the broncos 20 years now and was on their backs about how to grow crowds 5 years before that.....I am occasionally surprised, but rarely wrong in my musings. I've said the Bradford crowd will be nearer 1,500 but I suspect that will be because the south stand will be open and they will bring 600+. Rugby League fans love to have a gander at new stadiums and Bradford travel well

Interesting to read that the 903 was a bit "iffy" in the eyes of one attendee......have the lies to cover lies begun? Will Hughes figure out that sub 1k gates are all he has to.loom forward to.
Off the bottom on points difference....

Some additional thought. Although I was a bit surprised with the attendance figure there was a decent atmosphere today.
I bought some merchandise having found the shop. I’m surprised that some of the items on sale don’t seem to be on sale online. That seems an open goal to me.
I thought Borough had a decent cameo as did Williams. BTW Ogden for York was far more involved (in first half anyway) than I had seen before, seemed to have bulked up and was a threat.
Curran- he came with a rep of being one of the very best in the league. I’m not experienced enough to judge and suspect he does quite a bit of hidden stuff but although he seemed more involved today I just don’t know if he’s as influential as was hoped. Do others have views?

Well that result even though a loss got to be seen as a positive. Sounds like it was an entertaining competative game importantly for the fans. I was only listening and only first half but walker sounds like he has made an impact.

A loss is a loss.

Another early try conceded by London and York appeared camped in our end for a lot of the first half. I get the impression when teams move the ball, we become easier to penetrate, beyond the obvious it becomes more of a one man on man situation. I think it’s more to do with the fact that our middle defense is the strength and elsewhere we don’t look particularly strong.

A turnover on the second tackle on our own 22 (knock-on perhaps) set up York for a try.
York’s high kicks to our backs were much more challenging than most our ours from Siti who played scrum half. Siti’s “grubber” kicks on fifth tackles were pretty poor from my perspective.

Bienek played limited minutes (presumably due to having just recovered from injury) but to me still looks our best player.

Walker showed quality, but otherwise was adequate.

A desperate ankle tap pevented a 70 yard Macani try

I told my family that on the last tackle if you kept the ball in hand it was always worth taking a risk to recycle. I’m having second thoughts. Ulberg nearly got in the corner, did really well to stay in bounds and tossed the ball back up the line. It could have ended in a 95 yard try, although I still think it was worth it. It was a warning though. A useless Siti kick inside the 22 and York ran the length of the pitch, some good passing and a try.
As 60 minutes approached, York continued to dominate and I was waiting for the flood gates to open as London tired. At this point, in some respects it was London’s worst home performance of the year.

Then it all changed

London pushed forward, Leyland was instrumental spreading the ball and London looked a real threat. The trys came, as did opportunities for more. Macani couldn’t hold onto a Walker pass for a try in the corner. Latu broke from our 22. Didn’t have the pace but did well got to York’s 22 until a poor kick into the middle gave up possession. I think this break was from a turover. If so we had the full set to use if he’d been more composed.

Siti converted our fourth try with the running clock at 80. It had to be held as no tee available. The chap carrying it was limping and didn’t set off across the pitch until Siti was about to kick. A player had to hold the ball for him. In that situation shouldn’t somebody sprint over with the tee to at least give the option.

Siti checked the time with the ref whilst lining up the kick, so knew we had one last chance. Kick-Off caught inside the 22, but as we looked for one last big play, a long pass across the field was judged forward and time expired before the restart.
London dominated the last 20 minutes which is a massive plus considering the season to date. But in the same as the Bradford match was closer than the scoreline, today wasn’t as close as two points. Far too many mistakes.

Parata was MOM. New boy Bourouh looked very effective off the bench. Williams made a number of good gains. Curran looked quite influential in the last 20 minutes.

I haven’t really worked out the Centre position yet. How much is it an extenion of the forwards? How much is it an extension of the wingers? Along with a quality player in the halves (as I say Leyland stepped it up late on today) and an extra big forward, Centre looks the next place to upgrade. Hopefully Ferreira will be back. Siti might be a good option. Latu and Palumbo look good squad option there, but don’t look first choices. With no backs on the bench, and Palumbo moving to the backs, looks like we are a bit short there.

Really enjoyed the fight back and credit due there. But much work to do still.

Yep, this is something they can build on IMHO, and probably more important than the the loss is the fact it sounded a great game, London were competitive all game, and almost pulled off the great escape at the end of the game.....

This is what will get the fans back in, now for the Bradford game (which I agree should be back close to 1500)
[*] Get the south stand open
[*] Get MyPie and the street food vendors in place, Bradford will probably bring 400-500 fans
[*] Get Buck (and Dusty) back, and in the fans zone with the Kids
[*] Kids stuff in the Fans zone

We finally have something to build on, so please London Please make the most of this....

As seen at AFC Wimbledon, attendances are a tricky topic. Are they recording tickets sold or people in the stadium? I'd always assumed the latter but not so sure now.

Before the match today I could see circa 700 tickets sold. Add onto that the corporate tickets purchased that aren't visible on the site, and any tickets bought last minute or at the ground, then as a minimum your high 700's as a starting point. So not too far off the quoted number.

Like BigTime it doesn't feel quite the 900 level, but it's hard in a stand holding over 4,000 (including corporate levels) to get a real feel with the crowd only all small percentage. My gut feeling is the crowd figures aren't being artificially increased, but the big question is how are they compiled?

And here's an interesting one. The capacity of the stadium, would you believe it, includes seats such as the team bench

Losing 6 games on the spin is, of course, rubbish but this was an entertaining game. There was some skill displayed by Leyland and Parata in particular and some physical stuff from Bienek and others. There were a few breaks (which we weren’t able to finish off) but I think there was enough there to bring back some of the new attendees. There do appear to be some new faces and some younger ones. It should also be said that there were more from York than last year although that wouldn’t be difficult so the new stadium thing is a draw (this season). I wonder what they make of it.

Yes I’m not pushing the attendance point too hard as I’m not a professional crowd assessor but it didn’t feel like 50% more than Bradford although who knows what is going on in corporate. If they count stewards our attendance could be pushing 1500!