No Icing on this Cake...

By Martyn Horwell
April 21 2009

It was Carole King who wrote the words ‘What shall I write, what can I say?’, and had she been at HQ on Saturday, she would certainly have struggled to put words together to describe Leeds’ performance in the National Trophy final.

It wasn’t even ‘sparrowfart’ when I left our house in the dark, full of optimism of seeing another piece of silverware winging its way back to Headingley. All the signs were good. Crowned ND1 champions the previous week, the heat was off. Team selection had turned a few eyebrows, but surely it was a strong enough team to deliver the goods.

The convoy of supporters coaches left gate E almost on schedule, and after one or two changes in the race order down the M1 we assembled at the Northampton services, with the excitement mounting, and we compared our entries into the bit of fun known as the prediction league. Nobody got that right.

As we approached Twickers, a few of us on our coach had a guess as to what time Leeds would score their first try. Needless to say nobody was within spitting distance of getting that one right either.

It seemed appropriate given the proximity to Heathrow, that our West Stand seats were at an altitude of 3,000 feet, but, with no other passenger traffic in the vicinity we moved down a few feet to be nearer the pitch. Amazingly, there were hundreds, if not thousands of empty seats around us, yet four Gloucester supporters arrived midway through the first half, and guess what? The seats we had moved to belonged to them. We obligingly moved. They got what they deserved!

The match itself has by now been previewed to death, and dwelling on the events of Saturday may not be too constructive. However, in many respects, many of the shortcomings that have caused concerns among the supporters were there in abundance on Saturday. Players, playing out of position, slow delivery from half back, poor decision making, and terrible execution.

If Saturday’s performance has caused Neil and Andy sleepless nights over contracts for next season, then maybe that is no bad thing. There was no reason whatsoever for Leeds not to win on Saturday, except nobody told Moseley, and they grasped the bull by the horns, and were deserving, if surprising winners.

The journey home was subdued, although we were amused when a coach full of football supporters who were jumping up and down went past us on the M1. We only realised the extent of their happiness when we discovered they were Barnsley fans ‘celebrating’ a 0 - 0 draw at Reading.

Just after 9.00 we returned to the Long Bar, where most of the players were’ enjoying’ the social evening with the supporters. Most sat with their families, but also they came and said sorry for letting us down. There were however, 3 players, who in my opinion showed a complete lack of respect for the club and the fans. They sat isolated from the rest of the group, one had changed into jeans and a jumper, and the other two looked as if they had crawled out of a nightclub at 5 in the morning, with shirts completely undone, and a completely new way of wearing a tie. There is a time and a place for everything, and Saturday night was not it.

I eventually arrived home at 11.30, 19 hours after beginning my journey. What started out as a day of tremendous expectation had fallen flat. This week we are on our travels again, this time to Plymouth, and I hope to see a much better display from Leeds. Somehow, I think we may get it.

Please let us hope, for a massive improvement next season, otherwise our fate will be sealed before Christmas, and we will be even more disappointed than we are now.

Having said all that, lets not forget, what a wonderful season we have had, it was such a shame we couldn’t put the icing on the cake.

No Icing on the Cake...

Posted by: TykesRugby.co.uk (IP Logged)

Date: 21/04/2009 19:23

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