Re: 20 years at the HJ stadium : Sat Jan 20, 2024 4:46 pm  

rubber duckie wrote:

The most atmospheric game at home for me, was the 1/4 final CC vs Hull RLFC, yes, that Billy Thompson, disallowed 5 tries one.

That was pure corruption. The crowd were baying for Thompson's head on a pole at the end.

Re: 20 years at the HJ stadium : Sat Jan 20, 2024 5:49 pm  

Wires71 wrote:

That was pure corruption. The crowd were baying for Thompson's head on a pole at the end.

A lad next to me ran on the pitch to get Thompson, but 2 copper got him.
Thompson had a police escort off the pitch and also to his car.

Re: 20 years at the HJ stadium : Sun Jan 21, 2024 11:46 am  

Wilderspool was rocking when we played the Lancashire Cup Semi Final versus Widnes, when they were the dominant team in the League and was one of the noisiest crowds that I recall.

The tackle by Paul Derbyshire to prevent a certain try when Offiah was on a break, with only Derby. to beat, is still one of the best one-on-one tackles that I have seen by a Wire player.

Re: 20 years at the HJ stadium : Mon Jan 22, 2024 10:38 pm  

That was one of the first games I remember going to and one that cemented me as being hooked on rugby league.

Widnes had just won the WCC against Canberra the week before and we dominated them.

We were top of the league at that point. We'd signed Greg Mackey at the start of the season and he started on fire. We beat Wigan at Central Park first game of the season. We were top of the league when we beat Widnes in that semi final and the next week we beat Oldham and won the Lancashire Cup. I'd only been watching for a couple of months and already saw Wire win a trophy and sitting top of the league.

Then Greg Mackey left and joined Hull and the season fell to pieces. We went on a shocking run through that dark winter. I remember it being the same time as Manchester United were going through a terrible run in the era Fergie nearly got sacked and Jim Leighton was garbage. Like United, we saved our season by getting to Wembley but unlike United we couldn't get the win.