Ref Watch: Swindon & Cheltenham

[Phil Anderer]

Really? I didn't think he was too bad! What errors do you think he made? The sending off was clear cut. He allowed a physical battle in both directions. Other than twice getting in the way of the ball, which is unusual, and broke up our attack on both occasions, I thought he got most of the big decisions right. I've seen other refs who would have given them a penalty too!

Completely agree. One of the better refs this season. Not perfect, but who (except of course me ) is?

[Keith]

I actually thought Scott Simpson had a pretty good game, except for one glaring error. Unfortunately, that glaring error cost us the game. Even Sky Sports' retired Premier League ref, Chris Foy agreed that it was wrong to give the penalty.

Incident: Possible penalty, holding - Crewe Alexandra

Decision: Penalty awarded, holding - Crewe Alexandra

Foy says: "After awarding this penalty to Crewe Alexandra, the referee clearly communicates to the players that it was given for a holding offence by Morecambe no. 24 on the Crewe no. 5.

"With the benefit of viewing the replay, we can see there is contact between the players, however the action of holding is neither sustained nor impactful. It therefore falls below the threshold for penalising, as it was not clearly impactful, particularly as Crew no. 5 is still able to get to the ball and has a clear shot at goal.

"The correct decision in this case would have been to allow play to continue with a Morecambe throw-in from the far corner."

https://www.skysports.com/football/news ... -decisions

Simpson really has it in for us. That's four points his refereeing has cost us this season.

[Keith]

We’ve been allocated ref Jamie O’Connor for the Swindon match on Saturday and Richard Eley for Cheltenham next Tuesday.

JO'C is new to us and this season has been in charge of 10 NL, 5 L2, 1 L1, 1 FA Cup and 3 Trophy matches. He’s issued 90 yellows and 4 reds in those 20 matches (4.50 and 0.20).

RE is also new to us and this season has been in charge of 13 NL, 2 L2, 3 L1 and 1 Trophy match. He’s issued 92 yellows and 1 red in those 19 matches (4.84 and 0.05).

[Keith]

Angol>Slew

[Redalert1970]

Thought Mr O Connor had a decent game today in tough conditions

[Keith]

Thought Mr O Connor had a decent game today in tough conditions

I thought we may have had a couple of penalties. The first, a cross appeared to me to strike the defender's arm. There was a brief appeal but nothing strenuous and the commentary team didn't even mention it. It didn't get replayed either, so don't know. The second, the Neil Wainright felt he'd "looked for the foul", which he probably did, but there was still contact. Certainly, seen them given, mainly against us!

But, agreed, he did all right.