Last updated 16:04, Wednesday, 06 August 2008

FROM the perfectly sublime to the simply ridiculous!

Just when I was starting to praise resurgent Whitehaven for showing more consistency they go and lose to Dewsbury, the bottom club. Relegation-haunted Rams obviously thought they had more to play for, they wanted to win more, and it showed.

But it will be so different when Sky TV return to The Recre tonight – Haven will want to put on another show for the cameras just as they did in outplaying Salford in May. That signalled the start of the renaissance. What’s more they will beat Sheffield just as they did at the Don Valley Stadium a month ago to break their away duck. I am convinced they will complete the double and press forward those play-off aspirations. Because this is Whitehaven, exhilarating one moment, exasperating the next.

Of late, Ged Stokes has coaxed Haven into playing some champagne rugby but the Tetley Stadium perform-ance was more like flat beer.

“Everything we did was strictly Second Division.....our enthusiasm was zero....I offer absolutely no excuses” – this was the coach’s honest appraisal. He probably said a bit more in the dressing room.

There really are no easy beats in the division, but if Dewsbury are the worst team, as their position suggests, then Whitehaven’s attitude, for a team striving to make a play-off big bang, must have been sadly wrong – certainly their body language, according to Radio Cumbria’s John Cox, left a lot to be desired.

Why this should be so, no one really knows, but it is certainly unprofessional by players who are picking up decent contract money.

It is more inexcusable when you, and they, know they are so much better. The Dewsbury debacle surrend-ered a most impressive four match unbeaten run.

Lack of mental toughness and no desire, says the coa-ch. Maybe so but I can’t help thinking his team collective-ly had their minds on other things: Sheffield tonight.

It ought to have been well to the back of their minds. Complacency, or whatever, has cost Haven what may prove to be crucial points in a competitive play-off race.

How vital will the loss be considering that, after tonight, Whitehaven face Leigh (away) and Widnes (home) in the last two games deciding who gets the best play-off places?

With their heads switched on, this Haven team are cap-able of besting both their rivals but there are X-fact-ors: Leigh, who outclassed Widnes at the weekend, say goodbye to good old Hilton Park (August 17) and the Centurions will be hell bent on rolling over Whitehaven.

Celtic Crusaders might just do Haven a good turn by sending Leigh away from The Brewery Field this Sun-day without a bonus point!

Much could rest on what happens at The Recre the following week when Haven entertain Widnes who are trying desperately to claw back the nine points deduct-ed through administration.

As I’ve said before, the better the opposition, the better Haven tend to play, so it’s a good thing they have to match up against Leigh and Widnes, but first things first: Sheffield tonight.

Ged Stokes has faith in the quality and character of his charges to bounce right back. But with one proviso: “We must get back to play-ing as a proper team again – we are better pulling toge-ther right across the pitch, we don’t have superstars and we don’t want to rely on gamebreakers as some sides perhaps do.”

No better illustrated by the inclusion of no fewer than eight Haven players in two separate selections for National League One best teams for the past month.

Moreover, Leroy Joe was voted top performer in one (Co-operative sponsors) and Karl Edmondson in the other (RL World Magazine). And for good measure Sto-kes is coach of the month.

Which brings me of the tale Gordon Grace told me about how the appointment of the big Kiwi came about.

“We (Mike Graham, Barry Richardson) spent two hours in a room with Ged, and went into everything – and I mean everything – then we decided to put the kettle on to consider. But before a cup was poured we called him back and said ‘you start tomorrow’.

“He was the right man at the right time, you reach a crossroads and you take a risk, he has since proved the right man for us.”

You don’t turn around a team’s fortunes without very good coaching qualities. Maybe Ged Stokes would also like a degree in psychology, but so too would a lot of other coaches!