Could this be a major factor in our relegation? Either too slow to catch opponents late? Or more likely self preservation so nor real effort to inflict any damage on self or opposition?
We are too soft, we rarely commit "professional fouls" and take a yellow like every other team to stop the opposition - that and yes, some of our defenders aren't quick enough of thought...
More likely its the fact that we have been too lightweight we don't have a Hunter or a Gow at the club or even a Tommy Doc None of the central defenders at the club are real hard men/ball winners and apart from, perhaps, Skuse (who I think played better at Rt Back)we don't really have a ball winning midfielder. Moloney and Cunningham try and intercept rather than clatter the people they are marking, I think the vast majority of the bookings were for mistimed tackles.
Don't forget that when we were rubbish and stuck at the bottom under McGhee we had an atrocious disciplinary record and were the worst at one time in all four divisions. As we have climbed the league under Ward our record has been almost impeccable. So there's not necessarily a correlation.
We are also a team that is at times too honest. We usually take our throwings 10 yards back not 10 yards further forward which all the other teams do. We dont time waste and go down injured every two seconds. Who knows it might be different if we were the winning team. Since SOD came in players have been more controlled in tackling to be made to stay on their feet which is why players like Skuse arent sliding in putting their bodies on the line like they were 12 months ago and as for Fontain well he usually lets players run past him so no change there. However 50 yellows I would say is still quite a lot given how many games as its about 1 yellow per game
