Kick up the pants!

Author: Paul Parkin

19 Feb

Yet again on Sunday reds fans walked away from the match feeling a little let down. After our initial performance against Rochdale we’ve failed to hit that level again. Against a decent Oldham team we struggled in attack, most of our tries/decent attacking chances came of the back of penalties. Again on Sunday in the derby, at times, looked lost in attack, so much so that I heard people saying the team looked like they hadn’t met each other before never mind trained or played. I know it’s early in what will be a long season, and yes we’ve not conceded more that 2 tries in any game yet, whilst scoring 26 tries in total of our own and having a positive points difference of 110 already. We just appear to be taking things a little easy and maybe underestimating our opposition. I know it’s not fair on the boys to expect 80 minutes without mistakes or little things going wrong but we’ve got plenty to work on before we meet Leigh in March. I’m sure Shaun and the coaching staff will have the matter in hand and the boys will be paying for their mistakes in training this week.

This Friday sees us travel to Oldham, who just a fortnight ago gave us a good test at the Willows. Although the score didn’t reflect that fact, Oldham did show enough to think that Friday will be our biggest test yet. With plenty of Super League experience in their ranks (and a few ex-Reds) they’ll see this as a chance to catch us below par. The loss of Jiminez (Strange as it was) sets us another issue in the centres but Jordan Turner proved that he could fill that gap with ease with his hat-trick on Sunday.

Sorry if I sound negative, I don’t mean to be, I’d just like to see us show our class for longer periods in the game. As for Sunday, wasn’t it great to have the derby back (If only for a couple of matches) another great turn out by reds fans contributing to a crowd of 1,661, which we’re led to believe is Swinton’s biggest ever crowd at Park Lane. Following on from the amazing 4,224 at the Oldham game things are looking up. And of course I can’t end without mentioning the Stadium, what a timely boost for us the fans, the players, the staff and board and of course John Wilkinson OBE.

I’ll admit I was waning at one point as to it happening but I am more than happy to slap myself around the head for doubting it for even one second.

Right I’m off to find a spade to help with the digging, see you all Friday.

Filed under: Fan Blog

3 Responses for "Kick up the pants!"

Mrs Norma Rowley February 19th, 2008 at 1:39 pm 1
A WINS A WIN — SO EVERYBODY KEEPS TELLING ME!

But I must admit it was quite a boring game in the end..

On the plus side I thought the introduction of Stefan Ratchford really brought the game to life, and hopefully young Stefan will start this week against Oldham.

A big mention must go to Jordan Turner for his great hat-trick but if I have to have a moan it has to be about the lack of ball Paul White is getting this season.

Paul White must be our fastest man this year but for some unkown reason the poor lad saw very little of it again on Sunday….Let’s hope that changes this coming Friday night up at “ICE COLD BOUNDRY PARK”
Chorley Red February 19th, 2008 at 3:52 pm 2
I agree a good kick up the pants is needed although the lack off an atmosphere may have contributed to this below par display. I would also add; to me, despite his hat trick Turner looked slow and I don’t think he will “fill the gap in the centre with ease” we need a quality replacement for Jiminez.

I think some of the older heads should be helping out young Myler, he is obviously a flair player and to me him and Ratchford stood out, their passion could quickly be quelled if the likes of White and Littler continue throwing their teddies out of the pram - it was embarrassing to see them both on occassions jumping up and down. I agree it is not fair to expect no mistakes but at £12.50 i was expecting to see a lot fewer mistakes and a lot better performance. A warm up and 3 games in should see a better performance on friday (I HOPE!!!!)

In answer to another response if Paul White wants the ball he has to learn to get behind the play once he has over run rather than sulking on the wing IN FRONT of his inside players!!!
Paul Parkin February 19th, 2008 at 7:38 pm 3
Sorry C.R. I only meant Jordan will fill the gap for now until we find a replacement for Jiminez. I personally thought Jordan showed some touches of real class at times in the game.