I don't know where to begin with the depressing news this weekend, the Bulls in London or the england side in Sweden. We were very disappointed again with our performance in London.
Again we made to many mistakes and they cost us dearly. It was a game that we desperately wanted to win, not just to get revenge for Edinburgh but to get the points we need to guarantee a Top Five spot.
We are in fifth spot and have a good run in to the end of the season. We are at home to Warrington and Salford and away at Wigan and that is six points as far as I'm concerned. We are still in poll position and it is in our hands to get there. We know what we have to do and we are all determined to make it happen. We have had a good in depth talk this week and we have trained well, so we will be fired up for Warrington on Sunday.
It has been a disappointment too to lose Tevita for what looks like the rest of the season. It is how our season has gone this time. He was starting to play well and then breaks his hand.
It's tough luck on us and Tevita himself. I just hope when we do make the play offs he will be all right to play.
The soccer was disappointing. We travelled to London on Saturday and stopped off at Leicester for a meal. I couldn't believe it when I saw the television and we were losing with only a couple of minutes left. I don't think Glenn Hoddle will win anything with Eileen Drury in midfield.
I can't understand some of his selections.
We have some very talented players in our game and he just seems to use the same squad who lost Euro 96. I think that it is time for a radical change of tactics.
Paul Ince got sent off and he is just that sort of player. He has to acept what he has done and stop moaning about other players diving. What he got sent off for were fouls and he has got to accept that and get on with his career. I don't really think that ayone did themselves justice but it is a little unfair on Shearer and Owen as they are not getting the service that they deserve.
As I have already said, we travelled down to London on Saturday and we had to spend a lazy Sunday in Bracknell. The 7.05pm kick off was a real drag and it is always difficult to find something to do before the game. It is something that soccer players have to do and with Gateshead and possibly a Welsh club coming in we will have to learn to live with it.
The conditions at the Stoop were diabolical. The lighting was almost non-existent and as a professional sport we can't allow it to happen again. I don't care about London'sproblems with the local residents, we just have to ensure that, as a sport, no-one is subjected to that again. I don't want to make it sound like an excuse but it is difficult to play catch up football when you couldn't see anyone who was more than a few yards away. I know it loked reasonable on TV but believe me it was disgraceful.
Warrington will be a tough game for us. They beat us at our place earlier this year and that really started our decline.
We went there full of confidence and came away defeated. There were some factors in that defeat, like Graeme Bradley being sent off and myself having to pull out just before the game with my knee but we seemed to go downhill from there.
It didn't kick their season off but it started the rot in ours.
We are like we were against Castleford, in a must win situation and, no matter who we were playing this weekend we would have to win.
I am sure that we will.
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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