Hampton and Richmond home February 8

[Ajaxman DFC]

I will look forward to reading future match reports refereed by Joel Mannix.
I found myself doing the same thing a few seasons ago when we had that dreadfully aggravating whistle happy John Hopkin at home to Forest Green Rovers. In the match reports which followed no one, especially the managers, had a good word to say about him. The following season he disappeared presumably demoted further down the pyramid.
I wonder where he officiates now. Maybe it involves getting up early Sunday mornings for his sins!

[babylon]

We lost to a game plan and 1st rate spoiling tactics!
We must learn from this because other teams will try
the same stunt.
I hope that we don't see the character who allegedly
Officiated yesterday ever again.
Weak,easily conned ,unfit and positively the worst referee
I have seen for many years.
We were not at the races on Saturday but IMO we deserved a draw against the cynical gamesmanship of our opponents.

[spike]

Some might disagree but I thought that we were lightweight
in the midfield today...3 creative players but no enforcers
S K has done a brilliant job but to me we need a ball winner in our midfield,someone to own the middle of the park.
Just saying!

Well I don't disagree, I think you're spot on. Tyrique and Billy have been great of late but they both had an off day yesterday and the new guy Giovanni McGregor was largely ineffective and never got into the game at all. As things progressed, I was very surprised we didn't see Lee Noble as he would have seemed the obvious fix for that problem. That said, Steve King has made such enormous strides forward in such a short time, I'm not going to question his decisions as he's doing a fantastic job.

At the end of the day, we didn't play as well as we can and that, plus Hampton's niggly, spoiling tactics which were encouraged by the ineffective and incompetent referee, proved to be our downfall. Their numbers 5 and 12 being the main culprits. I don't like moaning about referees, especially after a defeat as it's inevitably going to look like sour grapes, but Joel Mannix, cripes he was bad. Maybe a bit lazy or unfit too ... I think I covered more ground watching the game from the terraces than he did refereeing it. I'd be pleased not to get him again this season.

MOTM between Luke and Macca for me, I went for the latter.

[BrianL]

Video from National League site;-
https://www.thenationalleague.org.uk/ma ... /1-4489219

Difficult to judge at normal speed, but looks like their No. 12 just clipped Elliott's foot so he was bound to fall at the pace he was running. Right in front of ref who went straight for back pocket as others waved imaginary cards at him. Their first could have been from a deflection into path of the scorer.

[BANANA BANANA]

Video from National League site;-
https://www.thenationalleague.org.uk/ma ... /1-4489219

Difficult to judge at normal speed, but looks like their No. 12 just clipped Elliott's foot so he was bound to fall at the pace he was running. Right in front of ref who went straight for back pocket as others waved imaginary cards at him. Their first could have been from a deflection into path of the scorer.

I was in the corner near where it happened I still think Elliot made the most of it I thought dive straight away.There may have been a small touch on Elliot but it was a bit dramatic for me the way he went down it was the fastest the ref moved all day getting his card out.

[Ozymandias]

Think I'd give him 9 for the dive, but still couldn't make out any contact really.

[mickw]

To be fair to the ref he was only 3 yards from Elliot when he took the tumble

[The 5th Searcher]

From watching that video and the way Elliott went down only confirms even more my original thought that the 12 clipped his ankle but also by pausing it in exactly the right position shows the 12 actually gave him a helping shove as well.
The position Elliott was in why would he need to take a dive, he wasn’t in the box and looked as though he was about to unleash a shot until his ankle went.

Just shows even more so how much of a buffoon the referee was.

[Kentc]

Not forgetting they should be down to 9 at that point

[spike]

In Elliot's case I felt there was contact, albeit the way he went down was a little theatrical. That said, if a forward gets fouled in the box and doesn't go down the refs invariably don't give a penalty. "Honesty" is generally punished by referees. If forwards are fouled they HAVE to go down because referees don't apply the laws fairly unless they do. Defenders (including ours) are allowed to grab hold of forwards at EVERY corner without punishment. Goalkeepers can flatten everyone around them with impunity and yet if they drop the ball and a forward is visible somewhere on the horizon then the keeper gets a free kick. This is the same at every game every week. None of this is in the laws of the game, it's a conscious decision by officials to reduce the number of goals scored by favouring the defending team. Referees hate goals being scored. They cause excitement and make the game harder to officiate. Don't tell me they only give what they see, that has never been true and never will be.