Sport Today

54-8, att 10,200 ish.

(Just come back from the Bull),  I can say I enjoyed  the match, even
though it wasn't as flowing as I would have liked.

Hull FC (fair play to them - it was a tough draw for them!) just
seemed to be trying to rough it up, and draw the Saints players
into a brawl. Still, there were some really good moments, (Hunte's TWO
interception tries, and VILA on the WING!!!!!!!!!).

When Keiron got penalised late in the 1st half for dissent, I thought that
would be the start of the breakdown - No player should have acted like
that,
the Ref's word is final (even if he is a ***y PIE!).....

2nd half, Hull put on a fair showing and crossed the line, but then a
period of about
10 mins of really shoddy handling skills, (6 or 7 loose balls in 1 play,
from both sides)
made me think that Saints were trying a bit too hard.

Saints missed Prescott at FB, (food poisoning! - dodgy kebab last night
maybe!)
and his cover, Bambi Arnold is not the best choice for full-back!).

Still a good result,

(oh and by the way well done Keighley, just heard!)

Del Jones
St Helens
Lancashire

Keighley doing Halifax on their own patch is a real shocker, I mean
Saints pulverised Hull without ever getting out of first gear.

If the Cougars are only joint favourites with the Humbersiders then it
doesn't bode well for Cas, Oldham and the rest when they come up against
Saints/Bradford/Wigan and London (If they pull their finger out)

I felt a bit sorry for Hull, they really tried hard - but at the end
of the day they lacked the speed/power/fitness/handling abilty which
you achieve being fully pro.

Mugwump.

Hull went into this with the wrong attitude.  When we nearly knocked Wigan
out of the cup a few years back and then beat them in the league they went
into the game really fired up, going all out for a win and looked like they
believed they could win.  It wasn't like that this time.  They looked like
they expected to lose.

Part of the difference was tactical.  The number of times Saints had a 2 or
3 man overlap after the whole Hull team had been sucked into the middle of
the pitch.  Possibly this was because they were frightened of the ability
and strength of the Saints pack.

The game also demonstrated how the lower teams just don't have the strength
in depth.  We had a couple of the new Aussies out injured.  Who did we
replace them with?  Rob Nolan who has been drifting in and out of the 1st
team for years but has never been good enough to hold a place; and Rob
Danby.  He doesn't look too bad against some of the lower sides and, I
believe, performs very well in the Alliance but just hasn't got the
strength to hack it with the big boys.  Just look at the way Paul Newlove
pushed him out of the way when he was going down the left wing for one of
his tries.

Yes, there is a gulf between SL and 1st division.  I've no doubt that we
will get a few stuffings next season after we get promoted.  Survival will
be the aim for the first couple of seasons.  The important thing is that we
get there before the gap is too big to close.  Once we are there we can
think about full time players and signing players of SL ability.  Till we
get there we only need players capable of winning 1st division.

On the subject of relegtion.  I know a lot of people are tipping Cas to go
down, but after their last two cup matches my money is on Halifax.

Anyway, back to the Saints v Hull match.  It would have been nice if the
referee had managed to get Saints onside for at least one play the ball
during the match.  He wasn't even looking to see of players were onside
(whichever side was defending).  All he seemed concerned with was watching
that the ball was played properly.  Even then he only penalised this once,
although very few were correct.
Hull did start putting some pressure on for the 10 minutes or so after the
try.  This seemed to stop when Alan Hunte scored his second interception
try.  The only was he could have intercepter that was to be 2 or 3 yards
offside.

BTW, is it always that quiet at Knowsley Road?  About the only sound from
the Saints supporters was a little polite clapping when they scored!

There really wasn't all that much to cheer about.

Mugwump.

    !!    |-------------------------------------------|    !!

   !!!!   |        --iNTERzONE iNcORpOrATED---        |   !!!!
  /    \  |-------------------------------------------|  /    \
 ( O||O ) |"I think it's time for you boys to share my| ( O||O )
 (  /\  ) |last taste of the true black meat - flesh  | (  /\  )
  (/##\)  |of the giant aquatic Brazilian Centipede"  |  (/##\)

I would just like to reply to the ***er who commented on supporters
behind the sticks having panoramic vision.  I was sitting on the half
way line and Saints were offside for 80% of the match.  That is not
to say that Hull would have beaten them had they been onside.  Saints
are clearly a bigger and better team, but it would have been nice to
have a fair crack of the whip.
And I agree, the atmosphere is shit at Knowsley Road, don,t Saints'
fans know how to sing???
    Suzie.

Are you sure it wasn't 79% or possibly a touch over 82%????

Are you the proud owner of a laser range-finding device?

Did you spend all your time taking down notes on how many times
Saints encroached into the 10?

If you did you musn't have seen much of your team.

Hull were fortunate that Saints had one of their off days otherwise
it would have been three figures.

Mugwump a.k.a "the ***er"

How do you get your kicks sweetie ;-)

It's also very easy to see of the referee is even looking for players going
offside.

I forgot to say in my last post...

Before you start talking about the gulf between SL and 1st division, don't
forget that this is the sort of result we used to get when we went to
Saints and were in the *same* division!!!

I prefer to watch the game - letting the boo boys behind me do all the
screaming at the officials.

Try it one day - you will be amazed at how much better the game seems.

Mugwump.

    !!    |-------------------------------------------|    !!

   !!!!   |        --iNTERzONE iNcORpOrATED---        |   !!!!
  /    \  |-------------------------------------------|  /    \
 ( O||O ) |"I think it's time for you boys to share my| ( O||O )
 (  /\  ) |last taste of the true black meat - flesh  | (  /\  )
  (/##\)  |of the giant aquatic Brazilian Centipede"  |  (/##\)