Huddersfield Giants 8, St Helens 50

Jul 8 2004 By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

As a result, the final quarter was once again all about damage limitation, which given the Giants current sixth-place standing in the League ladder is disappointing in the extreme.

How Sharp must be praying to get some of his injured players back onto the field as quickly as possible!

Yet, by the same token, Sharp must have been delighted with the way his depleted side took the game to Saints in the first half.

Within five minutes the Giants had taken the lead.

St Helens centre Lee Gilmour spilled the ball close to his own line, and from the resulting scrum the position was created for the outstanding Eorl Crabtree to take the ball to the line and feed fellow prop Jim Gannon to score from close range.

Paul White added the extras, and the home side had made the perfect start.

It got even better seven minutes later when White banged over a penalty following Nick Fozzard's high shot on Crabtree, and thoughts of another glorious Giants triumph was on the cards.

But due to a combination of smart Saints play, dumb Giants play and some harsh refereeing calls, the visitors slowly managed to claw their way back.

By the 20th minute the scores were level as John Stankevitch finished off a fine move and Paul Sculthorpe landed the first two of his two goals in a perfect nine out of nine kicking display.

And six minutes before the break St Helens took a lead they were never to lose as Darren Albert crossed in the corner moments after White had failed to find touch from a penalty.

But far worse was still to come.