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[Stu M]

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[Fleetbabe]

Can someone post the information, as like I've said before, the school system won't let me on confguide.

[UP FLEET]

 

There you go fleetbabe

 

 

 

9/12/2004 - Boro settle for draw at Fleet

 

 

Mart Thu 9-Dec-2004 11:49:21

authenticated user: MART (id=2608)

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[ Message 45501, a follow-up to none ]

 

 

Fussy Referee leaves Austin fuming, by Alex Narey.

 

IT'S a sad tale of events when the busiest man on a football pitch is the man in black — but at Stonebridge Road on Tuesday night that was very much the case when it didn’t need to be.

 

The performance of referee Martin Harris, described by Boro manager Dean Austin as "absolutely shocking", may well have cost the visitors two points after leading in the early stages thanks to a fine brace from Paul Harkness. Austin, out of respect and professionalism, still shook Harris's hand at the final whistle. But he did not mix his words when asked for his opinions on the official in a post match interview with the News, also describing him as "a homer" — questioning his performance in dealing out punishment to the visitors whilst weighing favourably in the home side's interests.

 

He said: "I thought the referee at Leigh was bad, but this bloke took the biscuit tonight. He was weak and the fourth official was standing on the line laughing and joking with the home bench, he didn't exactly help the cause either.

"The referee had a shocker all night, right from the first minute. And to be honest with you, he was just a homer. Seven of our players get booked whilst only two of theirs do. It wasn't even a dirty game!

"Back in July I was up in front of the FA because the club had the worst disciplinary record, and yet we haven't got a dirty player in our team."

 

Austin, in fairness, had a point. Harris's decision to brandish seven yellow cards was hard to take, considering three of those came for off-the-ball incidents that seemed to come to the referee's attention only through the antics of the home support and players. The most costly of the cautions came when debutant Richard Pacquette found his way into the book for backing into Chris Moore in the 80th minute. Two minutes later, he was given his marching orders for a lunge on 'keeper James Pullen — a ball that in all honesty, he had to go for.

 

"The boy is absolutely gutted," said Austin, "but I would have been disappointed if he didn't go for the ball. What made it worse was that he looked off-side, so the challenge wouldn’t have happened had the flag gone up.”

 

Fleet boss Andy Ford, though not wholeheartedly agreeing with Austin's sentiments, was not dismissive of them either.

"There were some odd decisions but they all make odd decisions," said Ford. "That's the nature of the referee's job."

Regarding Pacquette's sending off, where there may have been a hint of dramatization from Pullen after the late challenge, he added: "It is a 50/50 challenge and once he has been booked he can't really go for that. But I must admit it is a part of the game that I don't enjoy at the moment, there is a lot of play-acting with too many players making kidology out of events. But it is part and parcel of it, and once you are booked, you have to watch every challenge you make. When you are playing away from home, the crowd will get on to it and put the referee under pressure."

 

Moving Harris to one side, Boro should be satisfied with their own performance, racing into a two-goal lead after only 18 minutes thanks to the lightning reactions of Harkness in front of the posts and the industry in midfield — once again — from Gary Holloway.

 

The opener came in only the sixth minute, as Harkness finished neatly inside the box from Michael Kightly's delivery, played around the back of a static looking Fleet defence.

 

The home side, though looking short on confidence, did have their moments before falling further behind.

Austin, fielding a 4-5-1 formation with Harkness as the loan striker and Stephen Hughes drifting in from the left-hand side of midfield, would have had early concerns with Moussa Sidibe showing a clean pair of heels to Tony Taggart. Taggart, keeping Sasha Opinel on the subs' bench, did display his passing skills with some fine distribution, but with Sidibi's pace posing questions, Fleet's main outlet came from set-pieces won down the right-channel. Indeed, Boro were lucky to escape in firstly the 13th minute, when Moore headed wide from Justin Skinner's corner, and 60 seconds later when Sidibi found James Pinnock, only for the latter's shot to be cleared in the box.

 

Boro's lead was doubled in the 18th minute thanks to the lively Harkness and the astute Holloway. With his back to goal, Holloway's invention in finding Harkness with a hooked ball over his shoulder left Fleet's defence totally unaware. With a head start on both Moore and Steve McKimm, Harkness's only concern was to tap the ball around Pullen before prodding it home — a feat he managed with nonchalant ease.

 

Fleet were now looking shabby, with Austin's side breaking quickly whilst looking organised at the back.

However, there was always a danger with Sidibi roaming past Taggart so easily, and a series of corners kept Craig Holloway — slightly nervous in his handling — busy throughout the first 45 minutes.

 

After looking so comfortable for much of the half, Boro conceded a sloppy goal four minutes before the break after Holloway — who was becoming too involved in Harris's questionable decision making — conceded a free-kick midway inside his own half.

From Andy Drury's floating dead-ball, Austin's defence failed to track Moore's run from outside the box, allowing the tallest player on the field to head home with no close attention, beating the advancing Craig Holloway in the middle of the goal.

Two minutes before that, Hughes found his way into Harris's book, setting the tone for the second half with the visitors under pressure from the start.

Again, Sidibi proved the main outlet for Ford's side, although his job was made tougher with Opinel coming on to slot into the left-back role, with Taggart pushing up to the midfield. Hughes — who was fairly innocuous — made way for the Frenchman.

 

Despite being under pressure, Harkness found Kightly with a neat one-two in the middle of the park, allowing the on-loan Southend midfielder to surge forward in the 58th minute. Though with nobody in support, his only option was to try his luck from the edge of the box, the result was high and handsome.

 

As the tempo increased, the card count mounted.

After Kightly was booked for arriving late on Skinner - Jay Smith, Anthony Charles and Opinel were all cautioned, whilst Burton was to follow later.

 

Austin replaced the hardworking — but shattered — Harkness in the 68th minute, but it wasn't to be a happy start for the former Brentford man Pacquette.

Firstly, he was guilty of giving away the free-kick that led to Fleet's equaliser in the 76th minute. Once again it came from Drury's delivery, and as Boro failed to clear, Manny Omoyinmi stabbed the ball home from close-range with Craig Holloway grounded.

 

The drama wasn't over, as Pacquette walked early to compound Austin's misery. But his side showed character. More will be needed this weekend as Forest Green Rovers arrive at Cherrywood Road.

"We felt that playing a 4-5-1 would give Gary Holloway the extra license in the middle of the park to kick on when they could,” said Austin.

"To be fair, in the second half, we had a couple of opportunities to kick on but it wasn't to be."

BORO: C.Holloway 7, Burton 7, Miles 7, Allen-Page 6, Taggart 6 (Mulhearn 80), Charles 7, Smith 6, Holloway 8, Kightly 7, Hughes 6 (Opinel 45, 6), HARKNESS 9 (Pacquette 68, 4). Not used: Osborn, Deane. Booked: Hughes, Charles, Burton, Opinel, Smith, Kightly, Pacquette. Sent off: Pacquette. Ref: M.Harris. Att: 810.

 

On Monday night, Farnborough Reserves ran out 6-3 winners against Aylesbury, with the highly-rated Luke Wheeler scoring a hat-trick.

 

[ post follow-up ]

[Harry J Allstars]

Can anyone else hear violins.....?

[Fleetbabe]

Thanking you very much, I can read it now!

[jc]

To be fair, there are some good points made in the article - they didn't really deserve all those cards. But by refusing to acknowledge that Pacquette's second yellow was deserved, and suggesting that the cards may have cost them two points (which is purely speculative and somewhat unlikely, since Pacquette was sent off very late on, and with the score at 2-2 anyway), it does lose a bit of credibility.