H&R match comments

[Chris1]

The kindest thing you could say about the ref is that he had a shocker. I don’t think even hardened home supporters would disagree with that. Most Gate fans will be saying he was a total prat, and with good reason. He looked young and seemed to be wanting to show how hard he was.

 

Within five minutes of the start the ref had called a H&R player to come to him; the player refused to come, so the ref had to jog over to the player to speak to him. What signal does that give out?

 

Anyhow, on with the game. Loads of excitement, most of it for the wrong reasons.

 

Same line-up as Tuesday, but with SCS on the bench. Both teams playing in their away strip as far as I could tell.

 

The first 20 minutes was fairly even, with a few long-range shots from both sides, either high, wide, or in Abbott’s case both. Then H&R were given a dodgy free kick to the right of the area when Macca appeared to have won the ball perfectly fairly.

 

The ball was floated into the area for Ian Hodges to outjump everybody and head home into the top left corner from about 6 yards. A good goal.

 

A few minutes later Trotty was struggling for pace when the forward threw himself to the ground making sure he landed in the box. Ref falls for it, pen, 2-0.

 

About 2 minutes later Sap challenged in the box, player goes down, pen, 3-0. That one might have been legitimate.

 

H&R were well worth their lead at that time. We looked ineffective in a number of areas, and struggling against a pacy and skilful side. I would have liked to see Proths come on then to strengthen the midfield. The pitch was good enough to suit his game.

 

Before half time Skins goes in for a tackle, the player goes down like a sack of spuds, ref falls for it again, straight red. Most refs would have just awarded a free kick, but not this macho knobhead. Of course the opponents have gone steaming in making out it was some kind of assault, but by the time Skins is off the pitch the so-called injured player is jogging about winking to his mates.

 

So half time was pretty depressing, with a big defeat apparently on the cards.

 

We came out for the second half with Proths deep central midfield and Jay taking the right, and bloody hell we gave it a go.

 

We dominated the second half with guts and determination. All credit to the lads. Just about every refereeing decision was going against us, most of them blatantly wrong, but the boys fought and fought.

 

Saunders showed some lovely ball control leading up to Pinno’s goal, but all that was overshadowed by the McKimm sending-off in the aftermath. It looked like he grabbed the ball off the goalie to prevent the home team timewasting, but I didn’t have a clear view. Anyway another straight red.

 

We played a kind of 4-2-2 after that, which showed we were still determined to go for it.

 

Trotty got booked when a lot of refs wouldn’t even have given a free kick.

 

The nine men fought like tigers, they really did. When Jay, who had been limping for a while, went off with an ankle injury I thought there is no way back from this, but Deano took his place on the right, put in a lovely forward ball to Danny, who beat two men and powered it in.

 

We absolutely went for it right to the end and I tell you if we had equalised, or even won it, that would have been no more than these players deserved.

 

Nine against twelve (including the ref) and we never gave up. Every player did his bit, including Charlie with a superb save.

 

Well there you are, that was my reading of it. Perhaps others will have seen it differently.

 

We will have to live with the suspensions, and possibly Jay’s injury, but hey, with spirit like that we can win this league, make no mistake.

[margateshot]

Just got back and a fair reflection. I was at the Home end and it appeared to me that Trotty got the ball. Even the home supporters could not believe it and told us so. The second was definately a penalty. It was right in fromnt of us and i thought Pat was lucky not to at least get a caution, particularly as the ref seemed to throw a card at everything else. Even when the free kicks went against us he failed to play the advantage and we would lose 20 yards bringing the play back again. I completely missed the first red as i went to get the teas. I really don't know what the second was for. The ball was scrambled into the net and McKimm ran to the back of the goal picked up the balll and was surrounded by opposition players. Next thing ref wades in and flashes the red. maybe someone behind the goal saw something to clarify it. H&R looked a very good team but if we had not had that first penalty it would have been a different game. Can't blame Mitten for first goal as it was a lovely cross and a well taken header into top corner. Problem was that it should never have been a free kick in the first place. However they looked really flustered at the end and must have been relieved to hear that final whistle. The players all gave 110% today and credit to them to claw their way back. It says on KFM today that McKimm Skinner and Trott will all miss the Tonbridge game, which is very worrying.

[Frankie100]

"that McKimm Skinner and Trott will all miss the Tonbridge game"

 

Skinns still will be man of the match at the Tonbridge game!!!!!

[TonyM]

Thanks Chris Great report as always...Up The GATE.

[I am Spartacus]

Yes thanks for that report Chris. Up to your usual standard

[MargateFan]

The first penalty looked a bit soft, it was one of those that, on another day with another ref would not have been given. I think the second was probably correct.

We had a mountain to climb, but that was made worse when Skins got sent off.

Proths coming on steadied the ship, and then my goodness how the lads fought for a result. No-one could have asked for more.

Could not understand why McKimm was sent off, he was injured as well (studded on the leg), but their goalie made a big drama of being injured, and the ref was totally out of control at this point.

I would just like to mention Danny's goal, a peach of a pass up from Deano, Danny picks it up, runs at pace across the front of goal outside the box, leaving defenders floundering in his wake. Their goalie comes out for the ball, Danny cooly nudges it beyond him, belts on to the end of the ball, takes it past the goalie and slots home. Beautiful.

 

The nine remaining players gave everything, they were breathtaking in their determination and guts. H&R were becoming rattled, and another few minutes might have had us draw level. As it was, we were all very proud of them and showed our appreciation with resounding applause as they went off.

 

H&R were a very good team, and I am extremely annoyed that the ref denied us a very good footballing spectacle today, had he been a little less profligate with his cards, and left us with a more reasonably sized team this would have been an outstanding game to watch, whatever the result. He rather ruined it.

[Frankie100]

We spoke to Steve Mckimm during the second half and saw his cut leg from the goalie. He jumped to miss the keepers boot and ended up on him.

 

Shame the Hampton No.6 did not see red after he aimed a head butt.

 

 

[Boney Crisp]

Right i could go on forever about how bad the ref was, but frankly i have better things to do then to talk about tos-sers. It was end to end and i thought we were unlucky to go 1-0 down straight after that they got a penalty which wasn't and straight after that they got another then our heads dropped at 3-0. Second half the lads came out fired up and let me congratulate teh players on the heart and determination the played with, we were ripping Hampton apart at times in the second half even when we had 9 men. We lost the game but what a victory for morale. I think the players will be going into the Harrow game high on confidence after today even though we lost.

[MFC Forever]

It was one of those days today, ref gave nothing our way. Good match report by Chris as usual.

 

As for my thoughts from the game:

The ref hardly gave us anything today with both the penalties looking like dodgy decisions, and H&R players dropped down whenever they could and only stayed down if the whistle blew in their favour.

McKimm's sending off I was amazed by, I had no idea why he was at all as he had jumped to avoid colliding! When I asked McKimm afterwards on the terrace why the card was shown he said it was for apparantly stamping Hampton's goalie when retrieving the ball after Pinncok's goal, but Macca said he didn't and that's good enough for me. Also, with Macca getting a yellow in the first half and it being his second red card this season, I heard on the way home he's out for FIVE games - if true then that's not good news - Skinner is out for three games, suspensions start in two weeks, with both of them missing soon it certainly won't help us. It is annoying that no appeals can be made against these.

Jay apparantly went off with an achilles injury but it is hopefully not serious.

Finally, the Hampton goalie could not resist turning towards the Gate fans when the final whistle blew just to rub it in which I certainly thought was not needed.

Overall, I was proud of the lads today as they gave it their all, played some good football and deserved to get at least a point from the game. We are still in great position!

Up the Gate!

[Porka]

I'd like to say the players were absolutely fantastic in the second half today. Total committment from everyone and that was very much appreciated given the numerical disadvantage (as others have said - 9 against 12). Keep your heads up lads and lets get a win next week to make up for it.

 

The ref was an absolute disgrace.

[Cookie]

Excellent reports above despite the loss. Seems the players deserve much praise for fighting to the death.I see one of the H & Rs supporters commented that he had to change his trousers when he got home so the lads really go to him & had him on the edge at least.. I'm sure other home supporters must have felt the same. Nice one! Congratulations to the players.

Sometimes its not ALWAYS about winning is it?

No tears from me today after that effort & I don't think others including the players will have cause to doubt their abilities & fighting spirit after today.

Why is it I don't feel too down after today! Its a sign of having a cracking team amongst us & the victories will return with performances like that.

Thanks again for the reports, those that gave them.

Am proud of you guys on that field & those that were off of it that were on it previously. l.o.l.

[Roadrunner]

I was at the game today and have a different opinion of what happened. The ref never had control of the match from the outset with a H&R player refusing to go to him when called over, The first 20 minutes was reasonably even until the first goal which came from a dubious free kick. The goal however was taken well and Charlie had no chance in reaching it. You then had the first penalty, the only debate i had was if it was in the box or not. Trott had no need to make the tackle and only needed to shadow their player and the ball to the goal line, however he went in and appeared to push their player who went down in the box,2-0.

The second penalty was always going to be given once Pat left his foot in and their player went down and made a meal of it. In fairness up to this point H&R's players had already shown that they would go down under the slightest tackle. Anyway 3-0. Things got worse when Skinner got shown a straight red for what appeared to be a two footed tackle. I initially felt the Ref had no choice in what action to take with this decision as their player stayed down and appeared to be in some considerable pain. I was however disgusted by the H&R players reaction on seeing the red card shown, he got to his feet and ran around as if nothing had happened. I could not disagree that overall in the first half H&R were probably just the better side and deserved to be in the lead,but there was not 3 goals in it.However the quality of football had been spoilt by the refs handling of the game. Onto the second half and the Gate seemed to have lifted their play as the 10 men set about the task of trying to salvage something against all the odds. We pull one back and McKimm goes to collect the ball from the goal to get on with things. I could not believe the H&R goalkeepers actions. As Mckimm went to collect the ball the keeper raised his foot as if to try and trip him. McKimm jumps over the keeper to take avoiding action and the keepers studs connect with McKimms leg causing a 4 to 5 inch gash across the lower leg. As Mckimm lands he catches the keeper probably as a result of the contact the keeper made with him, the keeper then persforms an Oscar starring role in writhing around on the ground. A goal mouth brawl then starts involving at least a dozen players from both sides. The ref trys to sort it out as his assistant stands on the goal line appearing to laugh at what is going on. McKimm is called over and sent off, the keeper not even spoken too. The nine men rallyed and Hockton scored what was in my mind the goal of the game to make it 3-2. It was a valiant effort from the Gate, who yet again found themselves on the wrong end of some awful decisions by a very bias officals.There were a number of incidents that the ref failed to take action on,a H&R player raising his arms lashing out at a Gate player, another that appeared to use his head on a Gate player as well as Saunders appearing to kick out at a H&R player in retaliation for a bad tackle, all of which taking the refs stance on other incidents should all have been dealt with by Red cards. A draw would have been a fair result however we need to pick ourselves up now show that we are still the best team in the league and go onto win it. Due to the officals dismal display i can understand the frustration of several Gate fans who had to be spoken to by Stewards. We can all get vocal at times but i find it totally unacceptable when a so called fan throws a pint of beer over the officals and is ejected from the ground. I just hope that the Club take action and ban the individual from the ground and away travel. This individuals behaviour was disgraceful and let the club down. Verbal abuse seems to be a thing on terraces nowdays wherever you go how ever physical gestures can give the wrong message out and often leads to people letting themselves down as well as the clubs they support

[Cookie]

Apart from the added on bit at the end that we were unaware of I thought your comments matched those from above quite well.Cant really see where it is you feel yours differ,on the whole.

[P.W.]

What a game, but not in the way I'd hoped for. Pretty even to start with and a nice contest, after 25 mins we go 0-1 from yet another free kick conceded on the edge of the area. But the killer blows were the two penalties within a few minutes - the first for a shoulder barge (not too many Refs give those), the second looked OK from behind the H&R goal but I'm told that it was a cert. So from 0-0 to 0-3 in the space of 5 minutes just as you think the 1st half can't get worse when we have Skins sent off less than 10 minutes later. Macca then gives us a scare by landing awkwardly from a header attempt and hobbling around for the final 5 mins.

 

At HT the physio comes from the Dressing Room and summons Proths, luckily it's not for Macca, but tactical for Abbo. I often think that Trotty's achiles heel as Boss is his 'macho' stance on discipline - it appears he's not picking his best team just to enforce team discipline (2 examples Proths should be in ahead of Abbo, SCS ahead of Charlie [especially after his display at ETU] but both appear to be missing for non footballing reasons .. I can't see any reason for their absence).

 

Margate seem to claw back some ground in the second half, but the game is not going our way - the Ref is making some strange decisions, but has lost control & respect since early first half. H&R are over-confident & don't look as assured as the team in the first half - their attacks are now mostly long range efforts which don't trouble us. We manage to get a goal back courtsey of Pinns - now we'll see a contest- when there's a commotion as Macca retrieves the ball from the net and suddenly the Skipper is off!! Why??

 

We re-organise once again, then Jay gets injured (Cookie: you told me it would be fine - but in this game it never rains it just pours!). The sometimes volatile Dean Standen comes on and within a few minutes he's set up an opening for our lone striker DH, who rounds the keeper and we grab back another goal. 2-3 we have under 10 mins to pull off the great escape, but unfortunately can't achieve a miracle.

 

Some of the 'Gate fans go well OTT in venting their anger towards the Ref and some of the H&R staff - leaving as nasty a taste in the mouth as some of the decisions that provoked them - compounding to round off a miserable visit to Middlesex.

[Tony_T]

As I said before, we battled well second half, ref was just dire and in the end H&R won the battle but will not win the war!!!

 

Stewards were clueless - I didn't see the 'flying beer' but heard about it. Not on at all, I don't care who it was but as a long time supporter I will not stand for it! We appear to be well respected at most venues and I felt the home support were as welcoming as any other. We should not abuse that hospitality.

 

OK, nuff said!

[P.W.]

Originally Posted By: Tony_T

... I didn't see the 'flying beer' but heard about it. Not on at all, I don't care who it was but as a long time supporter I will not stand for it! We appear to be well respected at most venues and I felt the home support were as welcoming as any other. We should not abuse that hospitality.

Well Said That Man !!

[keffyh]

Originally Posted By: Tony_T

Stewards were clueless - I didn't see the 'flying beer' but heard about it. Not on at all, I don't care who it was but as a long time supporter I will not stand for it! We appear to be well respected at most venues and I felt the home support were as welcoming as any other. We should not abuse that hospitality.

OK, nuff said!

Tony T
How were the stewards clueless in ejecting a Margate supporter who threw his beer over a linesman? What other option would there be - a free refill :-) ?

I'm a steward - and it's pretty obvious which steward I am (how many walk round with a dog so I don't hide from things...) and I know the vast majority of Margate fans are amongst the best in our League. Today, though, a couple of your guys let down the majority.

This afternoon I had to speak to one young man who went a quarter of the way round the pitch to be alongside the lino to verbally abuse the lino and the ref. He then took similiar action in the 2nd half and on giving him a 2nd warning was told by a fellow Margate supporter he was complaining to the Margate chairman about it.
Now if you condone that behaviour at Margate (which I don't believe to be the case) then fair enough.

Later a different Margate supporter placed his hands on me to push me (at the final whistle), called me a f*****g w****r and offered me outside - all in front of other Margate supporters. Again if you are happy that a Margate supporter behaves like that then fair enough.

I'm not going to take it personally (I'm big enough and old enough to not worry about things like that) as I can understand why Margate supporters felt frustration at the refs performance.. however there has to be a line between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour within a football ground.

I still wish you the best of luck for the rest of the season.... lets hope its a Conference South fixture next season.

[Porka]

Let's get this straight. The man who said he was going to complain to the chairman was complaining to you about your jobsworth stewards (not about any of the supposed bad bahaviour). And the incident you mention (the 2nd warning thing) was not a similar incident to the 1st. There was no quarter of the way round the pitch procession this time. The referee was simply told he was a "disgrace", although I hear the warning was given this time as the actions were deemed aggressive. So you hand out a warning for somebody walking to the front of the terrace and yelling "disgrace" at the ref...That is all it was for. I can't see the problem myself. Incidentally, in the first half the young man was berating the referee, not the lino (as you make it sound he was marching round to get in the lino's face - this was certainly not the case).

[Boney Crisp]

Originally Posted By: OneManandhisDog

Originally Posted By: Tony_T

Stewards were clueless - I didn't see the 'flying beer' but heard about it. Not on at all, I don't care who it was but as a long time supporter I will not stand for it! We appear to be well respected at most venues and I felt the home support were as welcoming as any other. We should not abuse that hospitality.

OK, nuff said!

Tony T
How were the stewards clueless in ejecting a Margate supporter who threw his beer over a linesman? What other option would there be - a free refill :-) ?

I'm a steward - and it's pretty obvious which steward I am (how many walk round with a dog so I don't hide from things...) and I know the vast majority of Margate fans are amongst the best in our League. Today, though, a couple of your guys let down the majority.

This afternoon I had to speak to one young man who went a quarter of the way round the pitch to be alongside the lino to verbally abuse the lino and the ref. He then took similiar action in the 2nd half and on giving him a 2nd warning was told by a fellow Margate supporter he was complaining to the Margate chairman about it.
Now if you condone that behaviour at Margate (which I don't believe to be the case) then fair enough.

Later a different Margate supporter placed his hands on me to push me (at the final whistle), called me a f*****g w****r and offered me outside - all in front of other Margate supporters. Again if you are happy that a Margate supporter behaves like that then fair enough.

I'm not going to take it personally (I'm big enough and old enough to not worry about things like that) as I can understand why Margate supporters felt frustration at the refs performance.. however there has to be a line between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour within a football ground.

I still wish you the best of luck for the rest of the season.... lets hope its a Conference South fixture next season.

We are never like this, but i felt that the second warning for this young man was a bit harsh as he went to the front of terrace and shouted out that the ref is a disgrace, which i think there is no problem as this was true. For the guy who pushed you and offered you outside for a fight that is unnaceptable and for that i apologise. I think the frustration got to some of us (me included) and when you get a referee making bad decision after bad decision it can wind people up and this is probably the reason to why we lost. How we were at your place last season is how we are ussually.

[margateshot]

Lets get this straight. I saw the beer throwing incident. It was not a Margate supporter. In fact it was me who told a steward that the lino had been assaulted. I have never seen him before Home or Away. Apparently Tam says his name is Luton and he has a reputation to cause trouble at matches and has done so at places like Dover. He told me this before the match had started. The stewards handled the situation well but then I think got a little fired up with Gate supporters thinking that he was one of us. I am a 47 yr old met Police officer and went across to the tunnel to applaud the players at the end of the match. As I walked towards the tunnel one of the stewards took a pace forward and walked straight in front of me to try and stop me. It was totally out of order. Another steward went across to the choir and words were said then as well, again they had done nothing wrong at all and were stood near us. If I see trouble at a match I will assist if required and that goes for our supporters. As said earlier the ejection of the beer thrower was handled well as I went across to make sure all was well as I saw him try to punch a steward. I did not speak to any H%R stewards at the time as there was no need to. I must reiterate that I saw no trouble at all from anty Gate supporters.