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STATBUNKER
There had been hopes that the promotion season had got rid of the "south of the River Tees hoodoo" - but there are definite signs of it returning.
If its simply a matter of players finding more motivation in front of a home crowd than they do on strange territory, then a solution may be in sight.
There is now genuine pressure for places, with the Cheslin twins having to settle for the Stags, despite both having excellent starts to the season.
Greg Edwards gets his place on the first team bench, after continuing to impress in the Stags, while Neil Howe has also returned from injury together with Paul Rudd.
In the front row Jon Norris will be on the bench for the firsts, allowing Adam Coates to get a full game for the Stags, while Chris Stewart has forced his way through to start first team games.
No doubt Darren Thomas will be chomping at the bit for a return, once he has recovered from his hamstring injury. The injury has solved a dilemma for the coaches over who to leave out for Jamie Connolly's return. The Kiwi is on excellent form being one of the few to come out of the Cleckheaton game with any credit.
In the back row, Aaron Myers should be available for the Hull game next month, while there was excellent news at training last night when Jonny Boatman turned up without his plaster cast and without a limp. He promptly got stuck into a rehab session with Gez. Jonny says that if Danny Cipriani can return after only four months then so can he. Don't bet against it.
So with genuine competition for places there should not be any complacency in any game.
Birkenhead Park will provide a stiff test of that resolve. We have something in common with them in that we both lost at Stockport when we should have won. Last week they were winning until the ninth minute of injury time losing to a scuffed drop goal which just crept over the bar.
That dented their promotion hopes but no doubt they were cheered when news of our result filtered through.
West I Dixon
Thorn
Hodgson
Connolly
Kerr
Moss
Tighe
Carr [capt]
Sawyer
Stewart
I Robinson
T Dixon
D Boatman
Morrison
Vinnicombe
Reps
Norris
A Dixon
Edwards
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Author: West Park Allotment
Date: 14-11-08 11:43
Motivation comes from within and without. I noticed that Dave Stubbs seemed to be in charge last week and making his presence felt.
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Author: Supercodhead
Date: 14-11-08 12:12
for presence read mouth i suspect>>>what happened did you sack your coaches after the Cleckheaton game>>kept that quiet didn't you>>
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Author: MikeyBoy
Date: 14-11-08 13:28
some interesting info on that statbunker link - I notice that birkenhead park have conceded tries late in the game which is good for us as our team tends to finish games strongly. Some of the info isn't right though, isn't dixon our top try scorer?
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Author: Dave Picken
Date: 14-11-08 13:33
I wouldn't rely too much on the leading scorer or yellow cards bit. The onus is on home teams to provide the info. Unless they check with the away official re scorers names etc they frequently get it wrong.
Iain is leading try scorer and leading yellow card receiver.
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