Well... (Date Published: 28.07.02)

Well what a match.  After our superb win against Hull and our gutsy performance against Saints, and Wakefield at the bottom of Super League, you were led to believe it would be a formality.  I still had my doubts after we only beat Wakefield by a point earlier in the season and last week drew to Widnes, but I was still confident we could win. 

I was very pleased to see the likes of Jason and Jimmy back in the side.  We soon saw the affect that had after Jason went over after only 94 seconds.  A Dennis Moran try followed and London were looking strong to pile up a big lead.  London then didn’t seem to take their chances but it we were still looking good for the 2 points and 6^th position.  It was pleasing to see every London player playing well especially Dom Peters.  He looked up for it and it was a shame he didn’t score.  After he went off injured I had my doubts and I must admit London never looked the same once he had left the field.  Then good old Rusty came on and added more points on to the score board for London to go 18-0 up at half time.  At this point I thought Wakefield would fall away and we would nil them and London run riot in the second half, but how wrong can I be.  We have to remember London did not let Wakefield take advantage of the sun.  That same sun that had destroyed Hull two weeks ago. 

So as the players came out the mood around me was a confident one.  It was pretty even and then Davis went over just after the break.  A great run by Steve Hall could not stop Matoutia grabbing a second for Wakefield.  Now we weren’t so confident.  London couldn’t keep hold of the ball and when they did they made mistakes.  We all put it down to the funny 10 minutes we have, except this time it lasted more than 10 minutes.  The match was soon 18-18 and a lot sensed that London would yet again throw it away.  After the Davis drop goal I thought it would even more so.  However London quickly replied through a Toshack try and things were looking up.  I know thought London would finish them off and we would romp home.  Wakefield to their credit never gave up and they responded by scoring another try.  It was then we saw an adventurous effort by Sykes for a drop goal and how unlucky was he.  If only it had gone over.  It didn’t and Wakefield seemed to play better.  They then scored 3 unanswered tries.  I was shell shocked that we had let an 18 point lead go and then lose.  It was a match we should and had to win to keep our play off hopes alive.  Thoughts of last year came rushing back when we had lost to Huddersfield twice which again dogged our play off chances last year.  It looks like we did the same again to the bottom placed side.  I really couldn’t believe it.  It was a complete reversal to our last home game.

If London do make it I will be amazed as we seem to make it so much harder than it needs to be.  London should have made it easily but yet we are struggling with us being 2 points behind Widnes.  I feel even if London do beat Widnes twice it might not be enough, this may be the bridge too far.  I would love them to do it honest I would.  I just feel that we cannot afford to throw games away like this.  With every negative there is a positive side and that positive is that London will be even more motivated to beat Widnes next week.  Obviously it is still going to be hard if we do beat them twice but if we do I feel we will be in a strong position to do it.  Of course if London do make it I think they will go all the way as they have a habit of turning it on for the big occasions.  Being the London fan I am I find it frustrating we can’t seem to be consistent and beat the lower teams.  Lets just hope we can beat Widnes next week to keep our top 6 chances alive.  The feeling in the club is a confident one with rumour we might be buying a ground of our own.  So there is no real reason to be sad, obviously this loss is a set back but that’s life all the teams go through them.  Lets just not make the same mistakes again.