Not too far off despite our defeat

I WATCHED a DVD of the Keighley game earlier this week and I reckon we are not far off where we need to be.

We put together a lot of really good stuff — just not consistently enough.

The first 10 to 15 minutes were a huge improvement on what had gone the week before against Blackpool and that was against Keighley, who are a very good side.

It was the next 20-minute period after that which didn't go so well.

They scored on the back of penalties that I see as being dubious, but they still had to get over the line.

Our mistakes in defence weren't anything that we can't fix, they were simply poor decisions on our behalf.

Often, when things are going well, you tend to get decisions going your way.

We were well up on the penalty count and there was no lack of discipline.

Of the penalties we did concede, three or four shouldn't have been given in my opinion — including the crucial one which lost us the game.

Richard Mervill had made the tackle and their player just stepped forward when there was no contact from Merv. Those two points put Keighley ahead 28-26 and had that not happened it would have been a different game.

Injuries certainly didn’t help us either. Tommy Goulden pulled up in the warm-up — we had planned him to have a similar effect as he did against Blackpool — though saying that Chris Baines came in and did a fantastic job.

Robert Roberts was hurt early on and it was difficult for Jamie I'Anson, who had to go back on at one point despite an injured shoulder.

It is going to be a hard one to get over. But as of Monday we were straight into the analysis and we start again planning for Workington.

I met Alastair Campbell after the game and he came across as a really nice guy with a genuine interest in the game — I'm sure Keighley won't have any problems getting new facilities with that kind of backing!

But everything was put into perspective by the death of Wakefield's Leon Walker. It is extremely sad for his family, his team-mates, the supporters and rugby league as a whole.

Thankfully such events are rare in our game. If anything good can come of such a situation, it does tend to really pull people together.