Match thread: Championship Round 1. Batley Bulldogs v Featherstone Rovers. Sunday 17th March 2024. 3.00pm.

1 minute ago, BullyXL said:

So we're s**t all over the park then??

   Some of the passing against Sheffield was terrible.Players reaching over their heads to catch passes.The threequarters let Chris Welham stroll through from a scrum.If we can't beat Batley on Sunday we really are in trouble.And despite my gripe with the club i will pay my £20 in and cheer the lads to a win.

20 hours ago, sentoffagain2 said:

    It is obvious that Fev Batley and Dewsbury have come to an agreement about knocking off the concession for pensioners.We all know they need more money but without SL promotion clubs have keep a restraint on their biggest outgoings players wages.I hate saying it because they deserve much more than the Championship clubs can afford.As i said in my post this will be the last season  for me with nothing tangible to play for.I will probably pick out an amateur game to watch on a Saturday.

No agreements made between clubs, just reality dawning. Batley offered their £10 in last season and it cost them a fair chunk of money.  Dewsbury stopped offering these concessions two years ago without any discernible effect on the gates.

3 hours ago, sentoffagain2 said:

   Some of the passing against Sheffield was terrible.Players reaching over their heads to catch passes.The threequarters let Chris Welham stroll through from a scrum.If we can't beat Batley on Sunday we really are in trouble.And despite my gripe with the club i will pay my £20 in and cheer the lads to a win.

Good ,we need your support cos there won't be as many fans travelling as normally goes.

Site back up now. So here we go

Second game at Batley we were rubbish in the first half, both up & down the slope. in both games. But I must admit that the second half was a bit better, with  Lacans pulling out is showed especially with our kicking. This young HKR lad as full back was action  , they defended well but our attack is still not firing as it should. Waco is a waste of space and should be dropped. 

With all the adversity going on at our club off the field. ( Which by the does affect the players. ) And the determination the players gave to upset Wakey the week before then on top of that the last minute rearranging of positions which left us with no half backs then we simply had no right to expect Fev to overturn an 18-0 deficit at a very tough venue such as Mount Pleasant. All I can say is well done to everyone of the players for digging deep and getting the result at the death. Gorman the fullback from Hull KR after a couple of early mistakes excelled in a re-jigged team and his kicking at goal and the carrying of the ball from deep was instrumental in getting Fev the win against a good Batley performance.

    As always enjoyed my afternoon at  The Mount.Batley played and passed the ball better than i had seen in the two previous games.We didn't get much field position in the first half so didn't get many chances in attack.Less than 10 sec left when we scored before half time and that was crucial.Thought Addy was tremendous in the second half driving us forward assisted by Day, Springer and of course Jones.Crowd didn't like some of the refs decisions but we have had worse.I think three were a bit doubtful.Hardcastle put a shift in as usual always looking for work.90 sec left on the clock when Aekins opened the door with a little shimmy and go.To be honest i thought Batley would hang on but under pressure they were out on their feet the last half hour. KR Full Back thrown in at the deep end impressed.He did drop a couple of high balls but caught plenty under pressure.He has pace,something we have lacked over the last couple of years and he should be better on a dry ground.Covered the corners when defending although not able to make a tackle he did move across.Big shout for our supporters who outnumbered the home fans they really did urge the lads to a win.

I don't know if there are records on this but I wondered if we have ever come back from 18pts down to win a game away from home before ?.  MLP - do you know ?  Off the top of my head the biggest comeback I remember was the 2015 home game against Batley (Yes I am talking about all teams now not just Batley lol) Can anyone remember ?  I'm sure I'm forgetting some....

11 hours ago, RobLambert said:

I don't know if there are records on this but I wondered if we have ever come back from 18pts down to win a game away from home before ?.  MLP - do you know ?  Off the top of my head the biggest comeback I remember was the 2015 home game against Batley (Yes I am talking about all teams now not just Batley lol) Can anyone remember ?  I'm sure I'm forgetting some....

Interesting question Rob. It's not a stat I keep, but perhaps I should.

Because it was such a gradual overhaul, I never really thought about the turnaround. Instinctively I imagine we'll have done better before, but perhaps not.

Years ago, an 18 point lead was obviously unsurmountable. These days, not so much. That dramatic 2015 comeback you mentioned was exceptional, wasn't it?

10 hours ago, RobLambert said:

I don't know if there are records on this but I wondered if we have ever come back from 18pts down to win a game away from home before ?.  MLP - do you know ?  Off the top of my head the biggest comeback I remember was the 2015 home game against Batley (Yes I am talking about all teams now not just Batley lol) Can anyone remember ?  I'm sure I'm forgetting some....

Closest I can think of in recent years is the away Challenge Cup game against London in 2016. We went three tries behind in the first 20 minutes or so and Anthony Thackeray then went off with a broken jaw., but the score was only 14-0 because they missed two conversions. We went on to win 26-48 with Ian Hardman scoring 5 tries. One of my favourite Fev games that, perhaps because there were only about a dozen or so of us supporting Fev that day (there was a big Fev Lions game on at POR the same day and the club got permission to stream the London-Fev game in the clubhouse).

One match that is often talked about was against Hull KR. It wasn't 18 points but Fev were losing 19-4 and had Vince Farrar sent off. Fev got back to 24-23 and in the last few minutes KR had two players sent off and we slotted the winning penalty over from the touchline in the dying seconds. I think the match was in the old No6 trophy. Vaguely remember coming from a large deficit at home to none other than Doncaster. St Helens once overturned a large half time deficit at Post Office Road to beat Rovers on a very cold wintry evening.

16 minutes ago, J Phil Loxton said:

One match that is often talked about was against Hull KR. It wasn't 18 points but Fev were losing 19-4 and had Vince Farrar sent off. Fev got back to 24-23 and in the last few minutes KR had two players sent off and we slotted the winning penalty over from the touchline in the dying seconds. I think the match was in the old No6 trophy. Vaguely remember coming from a large deficit at home to none other than Doncaster. St Helens once overturned a large half time deficit at Post Office Road to beat Rovers on a very cold wintry evening.

   Remember the Saints one neither side could keep their feet going down the slope pitch was like an ice ring.We built up a good lead uphill in the first half bur Saints scored a late winner uphill in the second.

24 minutes ago, sentoffagain2 said:

   Remember the Saints one neither side could keep their feet going down the slope pitch was like an ice ring.We built up a good lead uphill in the first half bur Saints scored a late winner uphill in the second.

Yeah Saints took an age coming out at half time while Rovers were freezing to death stood around

1 hour ago, J Phil Loxton said:

One match that is often talked about was against Hull KR. It wasn't 18 points but Fev were losing 19-4 and had Vince Farrar sent off. Fev got back to 24-23 and in the last few minutes KR had two players sent off and we slotted the winning penalty over from the touchline in the dying seconds. I think the match was in the old No6 trophy.

Yep I've talked about that game on here a few times, Jeff Townend was the hero with 8 goals from 8 I think from all over the field. Clive Sullivan was one of the Hull KR players sent off for an instinctive high tackle, the only time he was ever sent off in a long and illustrious career, and it's the only time I have seen an opponent sent off that I can remember feeling bad about it.

20 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Yep I've talked about that game on here a few times, Jeff Townend was the hero with 8 goals from 8 I think from all over the field. Clive Sullivan was one of the Hull KR players sent off for an instinctive high tackle, the only time he was ever sent off in a long and illustrious career, and it's the only time I have seen an opponent sent off that I can remember feeling bad about it.

I was thinking it was Clive Sullivan TPH. Glad you pointed that out. Townend had a right boot on him yet I can't remember him playing all that long. Perhaps Mark has got his playing statistics.

9 minutes ago, J Phil Loxton said:

I was thinking it was Clive Sullivan TPH. Glad you pointed that out. Townend had a right boot on him yet I can't remember him playing all that long. Perhaps Mark has got his playing statistics.

I think he went to Wigan and then seemed to disappear.

24 minutes ago, J Phil Loxton said:

I was thinking it was Clive Sullivan TPH. Glad you pointed that out. Townend had a right boot on him yet I can't remember him playing all that long. Perhaps Mark has got his playing statistics.

https://www.fevarchive.co.uk/players/jeff-townend/1008/

2 minutes ago, marklaspalmas said:

https://www.fevarchive.co.uk/players/jeff-townend/1008/

Thanks for that Mark. I thought that the fact we had some star quality forwards would have restricted his Fev playing career. Remember some of his goal kicks would tower far above the uprights on a few occasions.

I remember (as a boy) Jeff Townend being a modern day mobile prop forward. The only action I can recall was when we were playing cas at home. I'm guessing a Boxing day. The hooter went for half time. Townend had the ball on the half way line so he nonchalantly booted a drop goal at the Post Office Road end. It didn't count as time was up. 

Funny how certain random episodes are stuck in your memory banks.

It does though support the statements that he had a right boot on him and that he had all the attributes to be a player more recognised than he was.

In terms of comebacks the '88 second division premiership final is up there - problem is we ended up losing.  Can't remember exactly how the scoring went but we must have been 3+ scores behind.  Then Steady scored twice, followed by Andy Bannister and Sykes to put us in front.  I think Paul Lyman then (unusually for him) couldn't get over the line when it looked easier to score and Oldham won it at the death with a breakaway try under the sticks (Des Foy?).  Quinny kicked superbly that day as usual.  It was very warm and I seem to remember he said he'd lost a stone in weight during the game.  (Rehydrating back then of course was for wusses only) 

               Des Foy made the break and passed to the supporting Kevin Meadows who scored the winning try.I thought we had done it with that magnificent comeback.Never dull supporting Rovers.