Ashford v. Rugby Town

[Keith B]

Disappointing result, but fair play to Rugby Town who deserved their win. A very decent team whose position amongst the betting odds for promotion is not hard to understand.

 

I thought that Ashford showed some good phases, but were punctured by some woeful crosses when on the attack and a massive gulf between the frontrunners and the defence.

 

Kofi's goal was a joy to behold. Sadly, we switched off for five minutes and were undone by half-time.

 

No complaints about the officials, who were pretty well on the button. I personally thought the referee was first class, authoritative and encouraging.

 

I hope that the Rugby Town team and fans had a better journey back home than an apparent hiccup or two on the way down.

 

A very hot afternoon, and well done to all. We do not need to be too despondent.

 

After all, we could support QPR or Norwich and their results that could prevent the super Saints from propping up the Premier League come Monday night.. (Sorry, Alan!)

 

Oh........, and once again I failed to win the raffle and my first miserable attempt at the predictions. Onwards and upwards.

[lazarus]

A poor day for us with Rugby’s win and the margin thereof being nothing less than they deserved.

 

We will try sometimes this season to obtain and relay the referee’s view on any controversial moments during matches.

 

Accordingly we spoke to Mr. Forrester after the game, following the seemingly bizarre decision to caution Ashley before play had started in the second half, even though one of the linesmen was faffing around at the back of our net, picking up a problem that, presumably, he had not spotted before the match. The referee’s explanation was that we had already delayed the kick-off for the second half, which by his timing, started 21 minutes after he had blown the whistle for half time. He also said that we had not responded to the assistant banging on the door to get us out for the second half. In the boardroom we were not in a position to argue with that.

 

He then saw that Ashley had returned to the field with his boots in his hand and had started to put them on in Rugby’s area of the field. Despite the fact that the match could not have started anyway, due to the assistant in the net, he decided to issue a caution. Given that the ref had not noticed the assistant's position, one might ask why he did not just start the match anyway, as Ashley had retreated into his own half before he cautioned him, and leave the player to catch up when his boots were on? It seemed an odd one to say the least and probably just as well that he didn’t re-start the match, as it would have had to stop as soon as it was realised that the assistant was not in position. If he had spotted that beforehand, it would be a fair bet that Ashley would have escaped a caution.

 

I felt that Jack’s caution was also a bit harsh. It seemed to me that he was dawdling when he went to play the ball without realising that an opponent was coming in from the side and his boot caught the opponent as he tried to play theball. Whilst there was no argument that it was a foul (they don’t have to be intentional these days), it was hardly a violent offence and the baying from the Rugby bench for a red card was certainly unwarranted.

 

Again, to be fair, the ref gave his explanation, his theory being that if a foul prevents a goal scoring opportunity, it is red, which we all know about but that if the foul prevents a “promising” attack without being a clear goal scoring opportunity, he will always give a yellow card, even if the foul was inconspicuous and would not normally merit a card.

 

As to Jim’s caution late on, he said in his view it was a deliberate obstruction by our player and came into the “denying a promising attack” category.

 

Apart from all that though, my unofficial assessment is that Mr. Forrester (Jnr) had a good game, talking to players, always up with play and was willing and good enough to explain the reasoning behind the decisions in question, even if we didn’t agree with all of them.

[Krooner]

Well done Lazarus for having the ability to ask for a referees reasons and for clearly listening to them even if he did disagree with them. Plenty of people can take notice of this.

[Smudge]

In the Boardroom,I presume Krooner,where us mere mortals,dare not venture.

[Beano]

Yes, the conversation took place in the Boardroom. I was there. It was the second time Mr Forrester had explained the incident, having spoken to our Football Secretary (a Level 4 referee himself at one point) and manager about it in the changing rooms.

 

Surely, the point of the post was to bring the conversation out of the Boardroom and make the fans aware of what was said? This is, after all, the Fans Forum.

 

At Contributory League level, match officials never go into the main bar - partly because of the journeys many of them have to undertake to get to and from games and partly because they have been times where supporters have let their clubs down by speaking out of turn to a referee or assistant who has made a "bad" decision (ie, one that cost their team something).

 

I firmly believe that the standard of refereeing at our level is very high. I have had concerns about the standard of the assistants but, all three of the officials were excellent yesterday. I appreciate Mr Forrester clarifying things. Many referees do, more power to their elbow.

[Swifty]

I welcome the initiative of letting us know the refs' decisions. Please keep it up if you can.

[lazarus]

My wife's been saying that for years Eddie!

[Swifty]

Mine's given up!