Sponsored by
Halifax 22 Whitehaven 24: Calland: we feel robbed
Halifax boss Matt Calland admitted he felt "a bit robbed" after his side were tipped out of the National League One play offs by Whitehaven at the Shay yesterday.
Haven triumphed 24-22 courtesy of a brace of late drop goals and now face Salford in Thursday night's final eliminator.
Calland conceded his side had not hit top form against Ged Stokes' Cumbrians, but was left infuriated by referee Richard Silverwood, who disallowed three tries including two pivotal scores from Miles Greenwood and Ben Black.
"It wasn't our day, we just didn't get the bounce of the ball," said Calland.
"On another afternoon, even though we weren't at our best, we win that game by three or four scores.
"It's very disappointing and we feel a bit robbed to be truthful.
"I've looked at the DVD and some of the scores were scores in my opinion.
"The Black one in the first half, the Greenwood one late in the game and even Lee Patterson's early try all get given on another day.
"Ben's was a big swinging point because instead of being two scores clear because we ended up level at 10-10.
"Our intensity wasn't as high as it was against Widnes last week, but I don't think we deserved to lose the game."
Some of the damage was self inflicted, with Calland taking the unusual step of criticising his players after they opted to run a 12th-minute penalty.
"I am a bit filthy we didn't go for goal at 6-0 because we should have been 8-0 up," said Calland, who lost top scorer Shad Royston early on with a serious chest injury.
"I sent the call out but we ran the ball, dropped it and Gregg McNally goes the full length of the field.
"I thought at the time that it might come back to haunt us and it did.
"Losing Shad early on really mucked us up, because Mark Gleeson and Sean Penkywicz had to play the full 80.
"They were nowhere near as effective playing for so long.
"They think Shad has some internal bleeding, either around his ribs or his sternum."
Calland will now turn his attention to next season. Transfer rumours were swirling round the Shay all afternoon, although the only confirmed departure so far is young forward Joe Walsh to Huddersfield.
The pack seems certain to bear the brunt of the restructuring, with Haven's power up front underlining a frailty that has dogged the home side all year.
"I am proud of what we have achieved this year, because I think we've made a lot of progress," said Calland
"We have a lot to work on for next year and front row will be a priority."
Click here to read: Late drop goals kill Grand Final dream
Email to a friend
Print this page- A58 crash UPDATE: road now re-open after man hit by car earlier this morning
- Crash on the A58 in Halifax this morning UPDATE: Man in hospital with several broken bones
- Taxi worker dies aged 35 after finishing his shift
- Man suffers serious injuries in accident on M62
- How the new Halifax Central Library will look
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Halifax
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -2 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North west
