Published Date:
03 July 2009
By James Roberts
TWO can be dismissed as a blip, a metaphorical speedhump on the road to eventual success.
Three is a different matter.
Three takes you over the line that separates a dip from a slump, a couple of bad weeks from a fledgling crisis.
Which is why, for the sake of their Co-operative Championship challenge, Halifax dare not make it a hat trick of consecutive losses when they host Leigh tonight.
Matt Calland's side didn't exactly get away with last weekend's crazy reverse at Gateshead.
But Barrow's bad day at Batley did limit the damage. Calland will know his team are unlikely to be so fortunate again.
Perhaps more worrying than recent results, and especially so last weekend, was the way games have been lost.
Until their Challenge Cup outing at Castleford on May 9, Fax had done two crucial things well: they had defended solidly and dominated up front, effectively correcting the failings that ruled them out of contention last season.
Since that night at Wheldon Road, they have struggled in both areas, looking much more like the sometimes brilliant, sometimes suicidal side that found themselves outgunned by the discipline of Salford and Celtic Crusaders in 2008.
That trend manifested itself in last weekend's appalling opening half when the visitors looked more like a side staggering home from the pub than one marching towards a title triumph.
With Widnes and Barrow both improving, and apparently capable of ironing out any glitches by spending their respective chairmen's cash, Fax need to re-find their form quickly and hold it until the end of the year.
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Last Updated:
03 July 2009 9:02 AM
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Source:
n/a
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Location:
Halifax