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Widnes familiar final day foes



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Published Date: 03 September 2008
Welcome to the strange but true section.
Would you believe Halifax have faced Widnes in their final game of the season in each of the last three years in which they have been in the same division?
That's a record that they won't want to extend tomorrow as sudden death football arrives and the Vikings come to the Shay in the play-offs.
Alright, so the first of those was in 2003.
That was Halifax's final game in Super League and wasn't really notable as a game.
Widnes won easily against a young Fax side which had been relegated weeks previously and which was stripped of all the overseas players.
One notable bloke playing for Widnes though was Anthony Farrell, a figure of hate to the South Stand since his days with Leeds.
They let him kick a goal from in front of the sticks because everyone thought he was retiring.
But his mate from Huddersfield and Sheffield days, newly appointed Halifax football director Paul Dixon, had other ideas and straight after the game began a campaign to cajole Farrell to have one last season, playing at the Shay.
His blandishments worked and "Faz" did play for another 12 months.
By that time though he was the patched up player-coach and having painkilling injections in his shoulder before every game.
His last game as a player was, ironically, teeth gritted at Widnes. That Grand Final win in October 2004 saved Fax from relegation and he stayed coach for another 20 months.
Last year of course saw Martin Hall's team fail valiantly one match short of a Grand Final.
And that was a whole lot better than the final game of 2006, a match reminiscent of the tryfest at Featherstone the other Sunday.
To put it bluntly Fax were flattened 76-34.
There were some familiar faces in both teams in September 2006 from the teams at the Chris Moyles Stadium 10 days ago.
For the record Widnes lined up: Daryl Cardiss, Damian Blanch, Sean Gleeson, Mick Nanyn, John Kirkpatrick, Dennis Moran, Ian Watson, Barrie McDermott, Mark Smith, Ryan Tandy, Mick Cassidy, Oliver Wilkes and Bob Beswick with James Coyle, David Allen, Jordan James and Aaron Summers on the bench.
Kirkpatrick (2), Tandy (2), Moran, Allen, Smith (2), Gleeson, McDermott (2), Beswick and Blanch scored tries whilst Nanyn (11) and McDermott added goals.
The Fax side was Damian Gibson, Andy Kirk, James Haley, Anthony Blackwood, Rikki Sheriffe, Joel Penny, Dominic Brambani, Byron Smith, Simeon Hoyle, David Wrench, David Larder, Adam Hayes and Damian Ball with the substitutes being Dean Lawford, John Clough, Andy Spink and Jason Boults.
Haley, Sheriffe, Penny, Larder, Kirk and Ball scored their tries and Brambani (2) and Lawford (3) kicked goals.
Only Gibson, Haley, Wrench and Kirk were present at Featherstone from the original teams with the latter, heavily strapped, only getting losing pay for his pains.
Kirk was actually lured away after the game and spent 2007 with Widnes, as did Penny.
Cardiss and Kirkpatrick were former Halifax players, while Watson switched to the Shay for 2007.

The full article contains 517 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 03 September 2008 8:53 AM
  • Source: n/a
  • Location: Halifax
 
 

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