Published at 11:08, Thursday, 31 May 2012

OH dear, what could the matter be? Despite it being one of the most entertaining of Cumbrian derbies, the matter was as clear as the sunshine that drenched the Recreation Ground: no defence, less so Whitehaven than the Raiders who came and plundered.

Jessie Joe Parker

Top of the table Barrow’s late smash and grab could make Haven pay a dear price for their defensive profligacy especially if they falter much further in the promotion stakes if you accept Barrow, Doncaster and Town are going to stay in pole position.

Sunday’s 70-point sunshine see-saw thriller was great spectator entertainment but from a coaches’ perspective more of a nightmare.

Good to watch a dozen shared tries but a tackling indictment of either side.

Barrow’s ex-Town scrum half Liam Campbell finally broke Haven’s brittle resistance with two late tries to complete his hat-trick.

Halfbacks are a combination - Haven have signed evergreen Jamie Rooney for his play-making skills. No disrespect to the inexperienced young Ben Karalius who plays his heart out but Campbell displayed the kind of pace and penetration that made a match-winning difference.

Darren Holt, the Barrow coach who once briefly wore Haven’s No 7 shirt, at least had the fillip of an away win which kept his team at the top of the division and denied Haven the chance to leap-frog Town into third place.

Whether humidity or complacency it certainly got Don Gailer hot under the collar.

With not even a bonus point consolation, The Don turned up the heat in an immediate post-match outburst calling for some players to shape up or ship out.

No matter that it might have been in the heat of the moment, Haven’s head coach fumed: “It just didn’t happen today, it happened on Friday night, the training effort stunk, the attitude wasn’t right, you an smell things like that coming. We went out there with the same attitude the boys had on Friday. At this level with so much riding on the season it’s unforgivable.

“Barrow were well drilled, but if you know what they are going to do then it becomes effort to put your body in position to make a tackle. We were guilty of not doing that on every set.

“Time and again you talk about discipline, ours was poor, we gave away a lot of penalties, two knock-ons at dummy half, 10 minutes in the sin bin, you can go on and on. it’s those little things that will hurt you at the end of the season. We scored a few points but big matches are won on the back of defence and that’s where we let ourselves down.”

Prompted by Radio Cumbria’s John Cox whether more work would have to be done on defence, Gailer bristled: “I think the work has to be done in front of a mirror, you have to look in the mirror and see what you have brought to training. If you don’t bring enough to prepare properly for a match then you are not going to perform on the big stage, that’s exactly what happened.”

Mind you, it’s not for the paying punters to bother about what went on at a training session – it’s up the coaching staff to make sure players’ attitudes are right and if it really does ‘stink’ then do something (drastic) about it like reading the riot act there and then or even calling flagging charges back in next day, though it might have been too much of an ordeal under the sun! Friday’s session was apparently stopped three times and in the end the head coach walked away frustrated.

At one stage I thought the force was with Haven as the mercurial Sicey turned up the heat in attack as only he can. If only winger Craig Calvert had been able to get finger tips to the ball over the Barrow try line with his side trailing by just two points then the sun might well have had its Haven hat on!

One of the few Haven players to excel (all round) was Jessie Joe Parker (pictured). So it’s good to report that the ‘tweaters’ got it wrong – he hasn’t since signed for Castleford!

On Sunday the strapping PNG Test centre emerged with hair shorn and head polished but it didn’t detract from Sampson-like strength in forcing his way over for his first Haven try. Jessie Joe packed a punch in attack and defence – but to lose in such circumstances must have felt like a punch below the belt for Haven’s genial straight-talking Aussie head coach.

Back to the defensive drawing board for Haven then but with a fortnight’s grace to reflect –with lots of mirror gazing of course!

Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk