Just got my phone back, thankfully.
If I had posted last night, it may well have been over the top.
I did mention that York had to play better than they did at Blaydon to win.
Well guess what they didn’t.
Nothing went right on the day.
Line out was shocking particularly in the first half.
York were fixated in carting the ball up the mid field, even when losing the gain line , time and again.
What ball that was recycled was slow and ponderous, with Atkin getting man and ball all day. Which put Huddersfield impressive mid field defense on the front foot, throughout.
Even with a numerical advantage for 30 minutes of the game (due to 3 yellow cards), it wasn’t until the last 5 minutes that York worked out the need to stretch the Huddersfield defense across the full width of the pitch, to get any reward. By then the game was lost.
Shackleton had an off day with his place kicking. Ironically had he landed them all, York would have snatched another away win. Which in fairness would have seen the better team on the day lose.
That said all though Huddersfield defense dominated most of the game, they had more than their share of good luck with two of the tries they scored. An interception and speculative kick over the top, which the bounce of the ball completely flat footed the covering York defenders only bounce straight into the grateful hands of the winger who had a relatively simple run in.
No complaints, York got exactly what they deserved from the game, which was nothing.
Plenty for the coaching staff to sort out, hopefully in time for next Fridays evening game at Clifton Park v Pontefract in the Yorkshire cup.
