well, watched the first half again, i am not convinced my thoughts were purely down to my red and white specs...stockley is not a footballer on that showing, he was there purely to hassle and get in the refs face, there was no 'headbutt' but there was a definite body check on flanno followed by a 2nd one not as hard, then a push right in front of the ref, one thing i did pick up on this time was the apparent friendliness between stockdale and the ref, plenty of banter and smiles between them even at one point (right after stockdales 2nd deliberate hand ball inside our box, 1st one was near the half way line) the ref even patted him on the back as he went past him. there were several instances where i feel we should have had a free kick or they should have been at least given a 'talking to' including that blatant hack on onien right after kick off yet the ref took no action...also turns out he is a jordy. now afore the idiots leap in here, we did not lose this because of the ref (who knows how the game would have played out differently with different decisions) we lost because they put the ball in the net and we never, plain and simple...i dont mind the odd loss as it is part of football but i really do mind watching these inept officials week in week out not wanting to 'bow to the big boys' as we are no different to any other div 3 team and we do not ask or expect any different treatment to any other team but we do seem to be always on the end of some (almost obvious) bias from some officials.
Looking forward to the return. Should be a great atmosphere with a packed away end. Hopefully you'll be back on top and we'll be mid-table by then.
If we're top two by then, it'll sell out for sure. We've sold out for QPR on Tuesday which isn't an important game.
Don't know about everyone else,but every time I witness a performance like that,especially after having so much optimism beforehand,I'm as low as hell for the next few days,feel totally miserable. All around me know what it is...not many understand it.
Wait till you've had 60+ years of this, it doesn't get any easier, and your right Pitt it's the hope that kills you.
Totally agree marra, that's normally the case for me, even after listening to the radio of Portsmouth away... however I went back to the Grange after the match with my mates and had 3 pints, 1 more than normal. We put the world to rights and all agreed it was an off day at the office and the ref was shoite... Walked home happy as could be... Roll on Rotherham and the return of Embleton. Hhaaawwwwwaaaaaayyyyyyyy the lads
We should be good enough to beat a team like Charlton even if the officials are horrendous. Other than Stewart who had a thankless task up front I wouldn’t award any of the team more than a 5 based on that performance. The decision to start with McGeady on the right was baffling and everyone could see it wasn’t working pretty much from kick off. We had no width at all down that side and they dealt with him very easily. He really doesn’t look fit. Pritchard worked hard in the first half but we badly miss Embleton in there, not just his creative side but he’s obviously much more physical too as we got bullied too often yesterday. Teams will be coming here thinking “well if Charlton can do it, so can we”. Everyone will set their stall out the same way and Johnson needs to figure out how to cope with it quickly.
McGeady certainly didn’t start on the right mind. He was on the left with O’Brien right until midway through the first half… I agree with your points on the whole, though. I look forward to Embleton returning to the side. Evans back in alongside Neil also.
I have not seen enough of Evans so far to suggest he is a better holding player than O/9, but he could be a better option on set pieces.
It WAS a penalty though cast iron(in the 2nd half the player on the ground). we need an ex ref employed to watch everyone of our games home and way and write a report on every match, then compare which team gets the worst official incidents, then send the result to the F A. Something has to be done or the micky taking will go on.
Fair enough, although simply starting McGeady was a mistake. There’s always a chance he can pop up with a free kick…then when we got one O’Nein took it for some reason
I cant understand that one either, we need some training ground routines on set pieces in general, especially throw ins which have been highlighted before, but Matthews display was like salt in the wounds on Saturday.
Neither is sending pornographic images to peoples inboxes apparently although it is explicitly against the AUP.
geads not 'looked right' all season so far, hopefully just needing games or i see no point in including him until fully fit. onien does a lot of what i call 'quiet work' across the park, breaking up play and winning the ball, nowt spectacular but well worth him being on the pitch...usually... although i have to agree he is not looking at his best either and his quick free kicks tend to be wasteful. still, if it continues to be only one game in five or six that we feel went against us i will be happy at the end of the season.