Fan's View Fan's View 23/24 - No.12 - Bristol Rovers at home

[Paul B]

Fan's View 23/24 - No.12: Bristol Rovers at home

 

[Manorlounger]

I hope the club have instigated an appeal in regard to Mills' red card. That said, we are so accustomed to officials closing ranks and sweeping aside any criticism that we are unlikely to have any success.
I wonder that the 4th official, apparently, had nothing to say on the matter. He would (should?) have had the best vantage point of all. As it was, we sit with a similar line of view to the radio and press folk and agree entirely with the comments of the Bristol Radio commentators.

Simon Mather has been previously labelled as poor and has been accused of "ruining a game" by his actions. He didn't entirely ruin this game but, he certainly made a good attempt.

 

[Paul B]

https://keepup.com.au/news/liam-man...ith-referee-after-oxford-beat-bristol-rovers/

"Bristol Rovers boss Joey Barton felt his side should have had a penalty and that Collins’ disallowed goal in the first half should not have been ruled out." - does he understand the off-side law?

"“We showed who the stronger group is. We had seven or eight missing today. Oxford are a good side on a good run but they are nowhere near as good as us."
Funny how the stronger group didn't win. "Are nowhere near as good as us" Not "were" but "are".

I can see them climbing the table. They are a good side but time to forget about them until just before 27 January where no doubt we'll have another lunch time kick off.

 

[BristolOx]

Great write-up as per usual!

Definitely in contention for the worst ever referee. I actually think both the 'kicking the ball away' yellows were incredibly harsh. Theirs worse, he shoots about 1/2 a second after the whistle had gone, if that! And it was a decent finish, why on earth would he want to waste time in that scenario when his team are 1 - 0 down?!

You cannot have refs with no common sense, he'll argue he's strictly abiding to the rules but he completely ruined the spectacle and any decent referee would have seen that game finish with 22 men on the pitch.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Re: kicking the ball away. The problem is that the refs are to a certain extent officiating to satisfy the assessor, not the crowd. Both players *did* kick the ball away and it is now a mandatory booking to do so. If he'd just had a word with the players (which would of course have been a more sensible thing to do in both cases, I agree) he would have been marked down by the assessor. Having said that, Smyth was absolutely daft to kick the ball away having seen the previous booking and having been booked himself a few minutes earlier. Everyone in the stands knew *exactly* what was going to happen the moment he did it.

 

[Big Ron]

Great write-up as per usual!

Definitely in contention for the worst ever referee. I actually think both the 'kicking the ball away' yellows were incredibly harsh. Theirs worse, he shoots about 1/2 a second after the whistle had gone, if that! And it was a decent finish, why on earth would he want to waste time in that scenario when his team are 1 - 0 down?!

You cannot have refs with no common sense, he'll argue he's strictly abiding to the rules but he completely ruined the spectacle and any decent referee would have seen that game finish with 22 men on the pitch.

I've seen that 'why would he kick the ball away when they are losing' argument on a number of threads - it was still relatively early in the game and it's a reflex action from the player to slow the momentum and allow his team to get back into position. Whilst it's a good finish it's also the slightly lazy swing of someone who knows what's going on.

I'm all for ref's dealing with kicking the ball away and dissent - there was a clear example in the first game at Cambridge. Early on Rodrigues was booked for poking the ball away and after that you could see all of the players thinking twice. Now, if we could also try and deal with holding on at corners.

I suppose all we ask for is consistency and a little understanding of how the games flows.

 

[Grumpy Git]

I will be keeping an eye on where Mather officiates next. I feel he is completely out of his depth in League football. Non league is more his level.
mills As can be seen, Mills did not commit a foul deserving of a red card. The ref saw nothing so went to his assistant who was the wrong side of the challenge.
He seems intent on issuing card after card as if he’s under orders to influence the game.
A good game that was a battling competitive match, shame we had that t**t being involved.

 

[Marked Ox]

Great write-up as per usual!

Definitely in contention for the worst ever referee. I actually think both the 'kicking the ball away' yellows were incredibly harsh. Theirs worse, he shoots about 1/2 a second after the whistle had gone, if that! And it was a decent finish, why on earth would he want to waste time in that scenario when his team are 1 - 0 down?!

You cannot have refs with no common sense, he'll argue he's strictly abiding to the rules but he completely ruined the spectacle and any decent referee would have seen that game finish with 22 men on the pitch.

Tbf, the game was still a spectacle, different but quite dramatic.

 

[Wandering Yellow]

"A referee who had no common sense or understanding of the realities of the game." - more eloquent than I could ever be but a perfect summary of what we saw.

 

[BristolOx]

Tbf, the game was still a spectacle, different but quite dramatic.

True, but it made my point more damning so i'm sticking with it!