Haven certainly tried to "close the game out" in the 2nd half, problem was they didn't have the fitness and desire to do it. Last 20 minutes they were knackered and never looked likely to score.
Have to say a massive well done to our lot though; we were absolutely caned by some awful decsions in the first half - every one of their scores came from a refereeing error of some sort, knock on, hilarious American Football style forward passes and a classic, textbook obstruction. Thanks to those plus a string of penalties we only spent 3 or 4 minutes of the haf in possession in their half of the pitch. Despite letting 3 tries in only one (the 3rd) was a walk in, and that after two blatant forward passes.
The turning point in the 2nd half was that couple of minutes where they should have scored but blew it on a forward pass and then on our next set, we played basketball on the last tackle and came up with a try. You could tell after we then got it back to 16-18 that Haven had gone and after the next one, to make it 20-18, the tell tale sign was there for all to see: 10 minutes left, just 2 points behind, yet there was no urgency whatsoever to get the game re-started, they just ambled back to halfway looking a tired and beaten side. Keavney's cheeky burrow over on the hooter was icing on the cake.
Despite being euphoric the way we came back, I feel for the Haven fans. It's obvious things ain't right off the field at the club and it's equally obvious that it's having an impact on the park too. Most Pro Clubs have had periods like this, god knows, we've had enough rubbish to watch down the years in various guises of Blackpool and Chorley clubs, but you can stomach it if the players are busting a gut for the shirt. If what's on the park is the best you can afford and they give it everything, you can't ask for anything more.
Sadly for Haven, that isn't the case for them at the moment.
As for us, thank goodness for the draw in the next round, that will have put a smile on the Chairman's face...I can just imagine the looks if we'd have got Quins away!
Let's hope the coverage of the win is good and we see some spin off through the turnstiles on Friday night.
