Lord Football
Blues on Tour
A thoroughly unenjoyable trip to Priestfield. Again. A drab first half. Both teams were poor, offering little, struggling in the conditions going in 0-0 was absolutely the right thing to a happen to a half that deserved to be filed in the "readily forgettable" file.
It wasn't. Somehow we went in 2 down and with ten men.
So, for those of you who weren't there.
Dimi gives away a penalty. Initially the ref waves it away but the assistant is flagging. Thing is, the offence was on the wrong side of pitch for him to be credible. (its a technical ref's thing, but you shouldn't do that) It was poor, poor, poor. When the ref waved it away I thought to myself "seen those given". I've since seen it on the video highlights, and I don't think it was a penalty. 1-0 them. A serious case of injustice.
Now, as a former official, if I'd have done what that assistant did (and I have done), I'd have spent the rest of the game not trying to bring more attention to myself......
Anyhow, we then concede a second after some frankly comical defending.
And then Inniss, already booked and being targeted by the Gills for a second, gets in a tangle with their winger. At best it is a free kick to us as their guys makes contact first. The ref doesn't immediately hit the whistle but our friend the assistant is waving his flag like some sort of demented semaphore indicating a foul to them. Now, I said at the Scunthorpe game when their guy wasn't sent off, that if you cautioned for that kind of stuff everything would be a caution.... incredibly the assistant convinced the ref to pull a second yellow out. Thought Inniss was going to kill the assistant. I don't advocate murderering match officials, but Inniss had a case.
Second half changes. Who would have known how we'd have played with eleven or with level scores, but fair play to us. We had a go. Ranger placed Fortune, who not really been effective and White for McGlashan who the referee was simply looking for an excuse to please Gills fans by showing him a card. And we went for it. Timlin was immense in the middle, but we struggled to create decent chances. Cox was non stop and forced a decent save from their keeper. Eventually it was Ranger who nodded home to make the last 10 minutes interesting. Sadly, we couldn't do it. The game was summed at the end with another piece of comical reffing when Leonard was tripped whilst bursting down the wing only for ref run away.
Oh, and it rained at the end.
It wasn't. Somehow we went in 2 down and with ten men.
So, for those of you who weren't there.
Dimi gives away a penalty. Initially the ref waves it away but the assistant is flagging. Thing is, the offence was on the wrong side of pitch for him to be credible. (its a technical ref's thing, but you shouldn't do that) It was poor, poor, poor. When the ref waved it away I thought to myself "seen those given". I've since seen it on the video highlights, and I don't think it was a penalty. 1-0 them. A serious case of injustice.
Now, as a former official, if I'd have done what that assistant did (and I have done), I'd have spent the rest of the game not trying to bring more attention to myself......
Anyhow, we then concede a second after some frankly comical defending.
And then Inniss, already booked and being targeted by the Gills for a second, gets in a tangle with their winger. At best it is a free kick to us as their guys makes contact first. The ref doesn't immediately hit the whistle but our friend the assistant is waving his flag like some sort of demented semaphore indicating a foul to them. Now, I said at the Scunthorpe game when their guy wasn't sent off, that if you cautioned for that kind of stuff everything would be a caution.... incredibly the assistant convinced the ref to pull a second yellow out. Thought Inniss was going to kill the assistant. I don't advocate murderering match officials, but Inniss had a case.
Second half changes. Who would have known how we'd have played with eleven or with level scores, but fair play to us. We had a go. Ranger placed Fortune, who not really been effective and White for McGlashan who the referee was simply looking for an excuse to please Gills fans by showing him a card. And we went for it. Timlin was immense in the middle, but we struggled to create decent chances. Cox was non stop and forced a decent save from their keeper. Eventually it was Ranger who nodded home to make the last 10 minutes interesting. Sadly, we couldn't do it. The game was summed at the end with another piece of comical reffing when Leonard was tripped whilst bursting down the wing only for ref run away.
Oh, and it rained at the end.
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