So this week sees the return of Arthur Lowe, oops should read Ryan Lowe he don't like it up him. Is this going to be the unhappy return of a former son of the greens or a triumphant one? I'm going to opt for the former option. Once again not an easy game and I hope we return to winning ways at home. COYG
Hazard...Ross...Wiredu...Tolaj...Mumba...Oseni...Boateng...McCabe...Galloway...Sorinola...Finn. Subs Ashby-Hammond...Paterson...Benarous...Roberts...Pepple...dale...Campbell. No Mitchell ?......Ibrahim suspended........and Edwards ? A little lacking in defensive cover. .....................................................Hazard ....................Wiredu......................Ross......................Galloway ......Sorinola............Boateng.....................McCabe.................Mumba ..............................Finn...................................Oseni ....................................................Tolaj
A pretty poor game really which was not improved by windy conditions or a Wigan side who were content to sit deep. Another negative factor was a truly bizarre refereeing display. All the right decisions but in the wrong order. The whole thing was lifted by the cheekiest penalty in the history of the game. 0-0, very tense so the obvious thing to do is trick the goalkeeper into going down and the calmly chip the ball over him. Glorious. Why we continued to press so far forward with not long to go is a mystery but Wigan were able to make a quick break from deep in their half to equalise. Still, every point is a prisoner and it’s another game undefeated.
This was perhaps one of the most boring games I've had the privilege to sit through. Before I started this report I went onto the beeb site to check my facts. They quote in the stats that Weigan had 5 shots on target in the game an we had one. Bollocks and I have no idea who puts these figures on there. I hardly remember Wigan having 5 shots in the whole game let alone on target. I can't remember us having 9 shots either. Both sides were crap and to be fair I think a refund might even be in order. The Ref was beyond belief. I couldn't work out if he was biased in favour of or just plain incompetent. He did his part to ruin a game but the players played their part in that also. Neither team deserved to win this so I guess the result was fair. The penalty was a shock when given and a shock when taken. Bit of a cheeky one. He really is the real deal.
A lot of people are saying the penalty was dubious. The most fatuous comment was BBC Devon right after the game. It was said that “if referees gave penalties for that, there’d be 20 in every game”. Of course there wouldn’t. If refs gave penalties for it, it would stop overnight. Before the kick was taken, a Wigan defender literally had his arms around Tolaj’s chest and was pulling and pushing him around like rag doll. As the ball came in, Tolaj dragged the pair of them towards it. I presume that’s what the penalty was given for and quite right too. It was as blatant as it gets . Notably, it wasn’t just any player but our No 9 and major goal threat, so it wasn’t just a random incident. The ref got precious little right but he was spot-on with that decision.
We had a penalty given against recently for the exact same thing. In that game there must have been double figure fouls exactly for the one given but wasn't. The Ref in this one warned the players several times but it was being ignored and mainly by Wigan. Their player virtually took Tolaj's shirt off. It was a foul no matter what others may argue. Soft maybe but a foul definately.
