Extremely disappointed and annoyed

I decided not to make the trip up to York for tonight's game and I certainly am glad I didn't. I listened to the match on the radio and it sounded like sending lambs to the slaughter. 10 changes to the side that beat Batley on Sunday and it really seemed to tell.

Losing 36-6 to anyone isn't pretty, but to a Championship 1 side makes it even harder to take. I'm sure York played well and fully deserved the win, but to literally crash and burn to a defeat with such a youthful side has not done us any good at all.

Firstly for the club and the 3 points that have now disappeared. Before I get shouted down here, I didn't expect us to walk this game if we had sent a full side down there, however we would have had a much better chance of walking away with the 3 points.

Then there is the youngsters that turned out and played. They won't have taken anything positive from the game and I'm sure it will be a knock to their confidence. This is not what the youngsters need. Listening to Dave Woods on the radio afterwards, I totally agreed with his approach to the youngsters. We should be looking to play 1 or 2 in a game, not turn up with 7 or 8 away from home.

The we look at the mathematics. York beat Workington comfortably at the weekend at Derwent Park. So taking things on face value, it would appear York would be the tougher game than the derby match against Workington on Sunday. So certainly the logical thing to do would be to put out a strong side against York in the hope we can pick up 3 points and then field a 'weakened' team against Workington.

I know Ged was frustrated at the RFL for making us play the game tonight resulting in 3 games in 8 days, but York are in the same scenario. In fact, so are Leigh, Featherstone, Batley, Doncaster, Oldham and Rochdale! Another argument was that many of the first team players were actually working today and couldn't get the time off to play tonight. I would be extremely keen to see how many of the players this applies to.

Even if we do rack up a cricket score against Town at the weekend, to me it will be somewhat of a hollow victory. We need to be fielding our strongest side week in week out. We haven't got the depth in the squad to have the rotation luxury and get away with it. I think Ged was more hoping we would win tonight with the side he put out rather than actually believing we would win.

The people who know me know that I'm not one to come out and shout someone down without good reason. But I honestly feel like this is a big mistake and it needs rectifying quickly. If this is how we are going to treat games then I am extremely worried about the season ahead. This isn't about the defeat to York, this is about the attitude of the team selection and the logic behind it, it's just flawed.

One thing that didn't help was when questioned on the radio by Coxy, Ged said that in hindsight he would still probably have brought the same side down with him. It is clear he has made a mistake and virtually every other Whitehaven fan can see that, so why can't Ged? We have made it difficult for ourselves to qualify for the latter stages of the Northern Rail Cup and I hope that this mistake firstly doesn't prevent us from making the cut, and secondly isn't a sign of what is to come this season.

On a side note, Stevie Mack is now out of work after been sacked by Widnes.