Toa is a huge loss in the centre and hopefully he will be back for the Batley game, Banister should also be in the mix (why didnt he make the bench tonight?) along with Fletcher and Paterson.





We need our strike players back and fast, otherwise there is nothing down for us this year.

And we seem more than capable of throwing winnable games away....

I thought you lot would kick our ass, but proud of our boys, it definitely was a game of two halves.

Nice to see your skin head Nazi with his doc marts and his group of brain deads mates shouting profanities at the end of the game outside the ground, shame that our education system has failed on educating some people, and to think that you have Millsy in your team...Shame on them.

Just remembered that we've got Sheffield away before those 3 games aswell, which won't exactly be easy will it?

Credit where credit is due, Widnes inched themselves into a nice deserved lead on the back of a couple of well taken training ground tries and the failings in Doncaster’s sliding defence.



As I said ! Credit to Doncaster who where never really far off the mark in the arm wrestle and in the second-half stepped up to the contest, the style both teams played became predictable and it was Doncaster’s better kicking game that brought them rewards and back into the game.



Must say if the last kick of the game had been collected by the winger he would have had a clear 50 metre race to the try line.

Any such fan is as unwelcome in Widnes as he surely was in Doncaster.



Not a good time for Widnes fans all round but congratulations to your team for running us so close. Lot's to think about right now.

Think we will be okay in the long run in the long run tbh, but need to pull the finger out. Not sure if Cullen's the answer, too.

It certainly was value for money, good game, good luck for the rest of the season.

At the moment id say he's bottom of the list of culprits for the current state of affairs. He will slowly work his way up if he carries on with playing with 2 FB's & 4 wingers like last night, mind.



Ultimately the squad is so imbalanced. Absolutely no need for 4 full time wingers all of relatively similar ability. Ste Mc took some flack and im still amazed that TOC manages to dodge any because he was just as large a part of the recruitment as Steve Mc.



We seemed to pick up players because we had the cash available or to stop others getting them. Ste Bannister was probably another we could have done without and im sure we went throwing ££'s at Webster because the rest of the division did.

Quite amused to read the comments of people slagging the team off that didn't go to the game.



The game in my opinion was a large step forward, and the perfect example to the players of how we can play this season. The first half was the best we've played so far and finally had dummy runners, unpredictable play, and a good kicking game., winning the half 20-0.



The second half we went back to how we've played so far this season and lost the second half 18-4.



Now I would assume that Cullen will let the players watch the game to see the difference and to get them to play for 80 minutes rather than 40. I must say Thackeray and Webster can work very well together when they want to and when there is a good deep attacking line.



Other pluses was Thompson's best game so far, and I thought Simm had a solid game as well.

Really?



So in your next paragraph you state:











Quite a contradiction in terms don't you think? I freely admit to not seeing either game over the Easter period however I've seen more than enough of this team this season to come to relatively informed conclusion that we are badly under performing and not able to play for 80 minutes.



Losing a half time 20 nil lead to lose the 2nd half 18-4 against one of the Championships basement clubs speaks volumes, whether I was there to witness it or not. I witnessed the previous week's performance at Halifax first hand and it doesn't take much to work out that more of the same of that performance was served up for large parts of this weekend's fixtures.



In any case, there is a clear distinction between 'slagging off' a team and being critical. We've been promised exciting and entertaining rugby this season by the club, we've signed some of the best players and a scrum half who ripped us to shreds not so long back and yet again we've been badly let down. This is the worst start to any of our previous seasons in the lower leagues, even though the club has claimed to have had such a fantastic pre-season.



I don't see things getting any better any time soon. Playing good rugby for 40 minutes won't even get us into the top 6, let alone any finals this season.

Yes I do find it amusing, how can you be 'critical' as you put it without seeing what you're being critical of!



And not a contradiction in the slightest, my point being that the players will learn a valuable lesson after last nights game of what they are capable of if they play for longer periods. For every game so far this season, we have played like we did in the second half last night and the results have been poor. For the first half last night, we scored some fantastic tries and played very well, this proves to the players that they have got the ability this season to do something.



My amusement being that there is no constructive criticism coming from anyone, just saying it's rubbish etc.



And regarding Webster, he did very well last night, and considering he sat out of the majority of last year and was told his career was over I think he's doing ok.

I think that's good to hear... I've tried to avoid being too critical but the game against Leigh on Friday was a very low point.



I do stand by my statement though that if we can turn possession into points then we will do very well this year. A little more guile and we would have been out of sight of Leigh and probably would have won in both matches against Fax. Unfortunately though we have looked short of ideas and this has proven costly in those three games and just as importantly in entertaining the fans that turned up to those games.



Onward and upward... I'll look forward to seeing the improvement that was witnessed last night on Friday night as hopefully 'the plan' comes together a bit more..

Like I've said, I've seen enough of this sort of performance this season to make an informed judgement on our overall performance so far.







Yes it is a contradiction because in one sentence you claim to have seen a big improvement, yet in the next you state we reverted back to the way we've played this season. These full time professional players should not need to learn the most basic valuable lesson that a game last for 80 minutes!! Anyone who has ever picked up a rugby ball should know that!







Yes and we also saw 80 minutes of fantastic rugby against Toulouse putting 70 points past them and nilling them in the process. They should have been fully aware of their ability by now and be putting in at least consistently good performances whether we win or not.







I've rarely been critical of the side so far this season but enough is enough, just because I happen to miss 2 games out of a whole season it does not make my opinion of our current and recent form any the less valid and I also see very little of people coming here simply claiming that we are 'rubbish'.

To be fair Busty.. if we played well for 40 minutes and were more creative if even for a half then that is an improvement.



As for the commenting thing... The team are only as good as their last game and I do think it is difficult to comment if you haven't seen the game whether live or on TV. Even radio is difficult as the local radio stations are so biased to their local team.



I saw Leigh and missed last night so I don't know where we are up to but from the sounds of things there were positives again to be taken from last night. If we are beginning to employ set pieces and dummy runners then we are on the right track.

Fair enough IET, but for me we're still so inconsistent. I appreciate what you are saying about commenting on a game I've not witnessed which is why I'm taking more of a general view of our performance so far this season. I have been patient up until now.



I've not made any specific reference to last night's performance other than the fact that we threw a 20 point lead against a side that in most people's opinion we 'should' be beating comfortably and as others have stated who did see the game, our 2nd half performance left a lot to be desired.



If we are moving forward then great, however I remain to be convinced.

I think everyone shares your frustrations mate... and the 20 points shipped is certainly worrying.



This is not panning out to be the season we thought it might be.



The most frustrating thing is that we we never seem to have the sort of stability that other clubs around us have.

This year it all looked to be in place.. a squad assembled in good time and the opportunity of a decent pre-season. THEN.. the sacking of the coach early doors and a coach that has to carry out his pre-season as the championship kicks off.

Enough has been said about the squad but injuries to players such as Morrison and Bannister have not helped and other players do not look to be playing to their ability.

Hopefully as AJ has pointed out there are points for hope.. we will see on Friday I guess.

I think you've said it all there, stability is one thing we've lacked all along.



I also think if the pre-season hadn't been so built up and our expectations raised, then I'd accept these inconsistencies on the field a little easier. The flip side of that is that had the club not raised our expectations, we'd have attracted fewer fans..





Roll on Friday

Indeed

If you are playing Batley next up, then you are very fortunate. When motivated, they are not a bad side, but if they do not sort their troubles out before the next match(very unlikely they will), you will hammer them. This is not based on their squad or yours or your current form. However, we all know when trouble starts off the pitch and the players on it are not trying, you will get hammered. I am afraid that is the situation at Batley at the mo. Any team in this division would currently beat them with a cricket score. Unfortunately, they are beaten before they take to the field. Do not be fooled into thinking you have turned your season around if you get 70 points. Remember that Toulouse have just put 60 on them at their place and I can assure you there is a bit of bother there at the moment. I would judge how you are improving, based on the other tougher fixtures that you have to come after them, if I were a Widnes fan.

Yes, you're perfectly correct. It is very difficult to form a genuine opinion on a particular performance by listening to the radio. You can get some idea though and, if you put that in to the context of what we have seen so far from the side, most will have had some idea of what happened last night.



The problem with relying on radio commentary is you are entirely dependent on what the commentator decides to tell you. One example of why being there is much better.



Until this morning I didn't realise Cullen decided to play much of the second half with only 3 forwards and used:



2 x Full-Backs - Yates and Wildbore

2 x Centres - Grady and Varkulis

4 x Wingers - Dodd, Gaskell, Flynn, and Mills

2 x Half-Backs - Webster and Thackeray



The commentators didn't mention this and it was difficult to get the full picture from the radio. This is pure stupidity and it's hardly suprising we struggled in the 2nd half. What the hell was Cullen thinking?



I think our 2nd half capitulation should be put down to the coach this time. Instead of building on an excellent first half performance and building confidence for future games, he almost blows the game by experimenting. Now we're all nearly as deflated as we were after the Leigh match.



Poor effort by Mr Cullen imo.

Interesting. Is this related to the young player about to be possibley banned?



I don't think many Widnes fans judge the team on games against the likes of Batley (with respect) unless we only just scrap a win then we do mad! Cricket scores like the one against Toulouse didn't exactly make us think we were going to win the league.



It actually seems like an ideal game for us to try a few things and build some confidence in our performance.

I think that definitely puts a different perspective on things..

I am not too sure as to the root of the big problems at Batley and wouldn't like to speculate too much on stuff going on there at the moment. As I said, they are a decent side when fired up and I genuinely think they would have given you a very very tough game, just as Oldham, Sheffield, Leigh, Doncaster, Barrow etc have done with Widnes. However, due to their troubles, I think you will hammer them. I had read earlier in this thread, one of your supporters saying that Batley are similar to Donny and it should be another tight game. All I am saying, is that I agree they are similar normally, but with the bother at Batley, it should now be a bit of a nothing match and you will hammer them. Due to you having had a lot of tough games this season and defeats against teams no better than Batley, I can understand some of your fans expecting another tight game, but unless things are sorted at Batley, this will not happen.

It certainly does, I didn't realise this until it was brought up. I kept my eye on the Sky Sports scorecentre, where I watched us go from a comfortable 24-0 lead to a 24-18 struggle.



It seems that Cullen is experimenting with the side, weighing up his options. Until he is happy and familiar with his side I think we can expect to see these sort of changes when we have a comfortable lead.