Re: 1895 Cup: Keith Lee Away : Sun Feb 18, 2024 11:50 am  

Former Bulls Brandon Pickersgill, Oscar Thomas & Ellis Robson all playing for the Cougars today. Bet they all have a blinder.

[Bullseye]

Re: 1895 Cup: Keith Lee Away : Sun Feb 18, 2024 12:41 pm  

Oscar Thomas, there's a blast from the past.

Re: 1895 Cup: Keith Lee Away : Sun Feb 18, 2024 6:09 pm  

Bit of mixed bag - we looked really useful in spells and then came up with some fairly ordinary plays that let the Cougars back in. We are going to need Gaskell to stay fit or recruit because I'm still not convinced by Jowitt - luckily our superior size allowed us to barge over for some of the scores.

Never really felt like we were going to lose the match once we got a few ahead - but it was a decent 80 mins of entertainment.

Re: 1895 Cup: Keith Lee Away : Sun Feb 18, 2024 7:36 pm  

Well that was a slightly frustrating afternoon of Rugby League. Despite being the better team for large periods of the game Keighley found themselves almost snatching it from us late on. From the opening whistle, it was evident that Bradford were the more dominant force on the field. We gained easy yards and our speedy ruck got us on the front foot and in decent field position. With some quick passes and powerful running they carved out numerous scoring opportunities for Hallas, Taufua and a great bit of individual skill from McGowan (he's been a great pick up). I felt that we were slightly disjointed in the halves with Gaskell missing. Any news on why he was absent today?

I felt that our discipline was poor across the board today. Keighley were piggybacked out of their own 20 numerous times on the back of us being unable to sort out our discipline. I felt that we were very lucky to keep 13 men on the field at certain points during the game. No real complaints about the referee. He didn't really let the game flow until the second half.

The first half was frustratingly stop/start mainly down to our poor discipline. When we eventually stopped giving away a penalty every set we starved Keighley of any decent field position. In the second half they didn't get near our line until there was 13 mins to go. We controlled the middle section of the game and marched out to a 26-6 lead. We fell asleep towards the end and let the Cougars back into it. Despite the adversity, we persisted, refusing to let the Cougars steal the victory from us. It would have been another embarrassing afternoon if we would have let that one slip. The idiot on the PA would have gone into cardiac arrest if they'd have snatched a win.

One think that did impress me was our goal line defence in the first half. Keighley were given 3 repeat sets in our 10 but couldn't break through. Davies was an absolute workhorse in defence and made some great stops. Taufua also put on a massive hit down the wing to stop a Cougars attack late in the game. He also gained us some fantastic yards in attack.

Into the quarter finals we go and we face Dec Patton's Swinton Lions at home in a couple of weeks.

Re: 1895 Cup: Keith Lee Away : Sun Feb 18, 2024 8:08 pm  

I must say fans calling for EOC head need there’s examining we weren’t great but under dunning we got beat 42-6 (I think) at least we got through this banana skin

Re: 1895 Cup: Keith Lee Away : Sun Feb 18, 2024 8:18 pm  

Pyrah123 wrote:

I must say fans calling for EOC head need there’s examining

That’s genuinely insane.

We are barely out of pre-season!!

Re: 1895 Cup: Keith Lee Away : Sun Feb 18, 2024 8:39 pm  

Pyrah123 wrote:

I must say fans calling for EOC head need there’s examining we weren’t great but under dunning we got beat 42-6 (I think) at least we got through this banana skin

Idiots. We've won every pre-season/competitive game we've played. Yes, today wasn't great but we still managed to win against an improving and hostile Cougars outfit. Calling for the coaches head already is utterly mad.

Re: 1895 Cup: Keith Lee Away : Sun Feb 18, 2024 9:50 pm  

Job done. I don't know why anyone expects, or would want us to be perfect at this stage of the season.

Keighley are no mugs. They comfortably beat Dewsbury a couple of weeks a go.. Don't think anyone in this comp will face as hostile away game as that (the PA roaring as the games been played etc)

[Bullseye]

Re: 1895 Cup: Keith Lee Away : Mon Feb 19, 2024 9:40 am  

Job done but some concerns about our discipline. Give that number of penalties away against a good side and we'll get beaten.

I was a bit concerned about how our substitutions left us with our less effective players on the field when we entered the final crucial quarter. Smith, Hallas and Flanagan on at the same time didn't work. Was surprised Doro was off for as long as he was.

Great performances from Okoro, Taufua (what a hit!) and Appo. Mixed bag from the rest. We certainly missed Gaskell.

Re: 1895 Cup: Keith Lee Away : Mon Feb 19, 2024 4:31 pm  

Agreed... those who are calling for EOC's head need to give their own a wobble. Its essentially pre-season with a new coach trying to instill his own style and ideas. Add into the mix we have yet to have a fully fit 17 to choose from and lost our Head of S&C half way through January.

All in all, we have yet to lose a competitive game and have done so whilst not looking anywhere near our best.

On the game at the weekend, I am happy to say I was proved wrong by Hallas. I've been very open in my opinion that his signing was a step back, but actually he kept his discipline much better and was pretty good in both attack and defence.

The drop of was very noticeable however when Flanagan was introduced to play. Up to that point, Soutter was absolutely dominating the ruck with his runs from dummy half and short offloads into space. He can clearly go 80mins so why we are wasting a bench spot for someone who drags the whole team down with silly penalties and unnecessary grubbiness.