Sorry, he’s the No 11. I confused him with 18 for reasons that will become clear. Were you to look back, you’ll see I mentioned them both immediately after the match.
In the first instance, the fans were annoyed by the No 11 for his obvious and blatant exaggeration of an innocuous tackle in the Lyndhurst/Devonport corner. I saw it clearly and it was a farce. He went down to win a free kick and then resisted the referee’s instructions to leave the pitch after “treatment”. He made gestures to the crowd then and he went into the same corner and made gestures to the crowd after he’d scored.
You’ll have has a better view of the No 18 (the wing back) did similar things on the Lyndhurst side close to the halfway line, in the first half.
The referee had obviously lost patience with it and had started calling the physios on as soon as one of theirs went down, which of course means they have to go off.
There were even farcical situations where they’d gone down as if shot and the ref had called the physios on but the player was desperately trying to wave them away.
I understand that fans have a go at players whether they are right or wrong but I was only yards away, and the No 11 was taking the piss.
At times Argyle players go down after very little contact but generally they don’t play dead like this. I’d like to see all referees take a hard line and call the trainers on every time there’s an apparent injury.
If a top of-the-table side deploy these “tactics” to win free-kicks and get their opponents booked, then the blame lies with them. The No 11 could easily have provoked a fan or fans to jump the fence and then there’d have been hell to pay, and rightly so, but a professional player and a leading club must have responsibilities not to deliberately provoke trouble.
This is as you say, not Sheffield United’s first offence. It’s Wycombe Wanders and Gareth Ainsworth with significantly more expensive cars isn’t it? And Wilder remonstrating with two opponents who are merely having a private laugh on their way back to the dressing room is a joke.