I didnt want to comment yesterday until after I re-watched the game. I didnt think it was a red for Clarke and I thought it was a penalty to us at the end when Bodin looked to be taken out. But I didnt want to come across I was moaning about the ref in case the TV shows the ref was correct. Well after watching it back, the ref was not correct. Shocking decisions made in that game. Not just for us for Oxford too. However I do think we had many more bad decisions against us. I mean having Clarke sent off after 15 mins meaning 75 mins with just 10 men would take its toll. Yes they had a man sent off too in the 2nd half but we were still at a disadvantage with Clarkes red until Oxford went to 10 men. If the ref did his job properly and not look to make the game about himself, I have no doubts we would have won because I felt we were still the better side most of the time when it was 10 vs 11 men. We looked in control before our red and never looked like conceding when we dropped to 10 men and looked ok going forward too. But we still lack that spark in the final 3rd. TV said we are the lowest goal scorers in the league already. Looks like we havent learnt from our last time in league 2. We did have some chances but went straight to the keeper or a free header at the end from Parkes who missed the target by miles! Yes we should have won the game on the chances we created and yet again failed to take our chances but with 11 men I feel we would have won that game easily. It should not have been a red. Clarke jumped up for the ball did the exact same as the Oxford player, both players had arms in the air which is normal when you jump for a header. Both players didnt swing their elbows, both players had eyes only for the ball. It was clear that both players had no intention to go for the other player. But Clarke did make contact with his elbow and it should have been a yellow card worse case scenario. The ref didnt even think about it. Just rushed for the red and then the game was ruined. Very poor decision. What makes it worse is that at the start of the 2nd half the Oxford player did the exact same thing on Lockyer with his elbow. No intent like Clarke but it looked a little worse than Clarkes. Yet the ref in his wisdom thought yellow only. Just no consistancy shown. Awful ref. Then the penalty decision at the end. Replays shows clear penalty. Shocking decision. Sent off Clarke for an elbow (although clear accident) Failed to send off a Oxford player for an elbow - the exact same thing as Clarke done. Failed to award a clear cut penalty. DC showed some real constraint as I would have punched the ref if I was him!
I just lifted this post on Oxford's Forum. Ignoring those with the biased views, this guy seems to have seen what most of us saw. Thank the lord that that is over. Three points but at a cost - Roofe's injury and Sercombe's red. I thought we were disappointing throughout. Never created much, passes went astray and our famous 'Plan A' went totally to pieces in order to see the game out. Roofe's bit of quality separated two fairly evenly matched sides and the biggest slice of luck (Hoban's challenge in our box) I've seen in a very long time. However, battle we had to and battle we did and we came out the other end with the three points. . A very tough three points earned. We can mop our brows now as Bristol Rovers can spend the rest of the afternoon stomping around grumpily - and I don't blame them. The ref was poor throughout, but the bigger decisions he got wrong went in our favour.
Well there are a few honest ones then Sapphire. I wont complain about our performance. Thought we played very well with 10 and 11 men considering we were up against the ref too. But I am beginning to think negative thoughts towards Easter. By his own admission he is not fit and only 65-70% fit. I know I should judge him when he is close to 100% fit and he needs game time to get fit of course but I thought he gave the ball away an awful lot yesterday and didnt do much to chase the ball down. If he wants to gain fitness then he needs to do a lot more running than what he did yesterday. I just hope he starts getting near his best soon otherwise I think we need someone else. We aint scoring enough. Taylor looks like he is struggling as a striker. I would like to see him more out wide or behind the front 2 strikers but we dont play these formations to suit that. So I think its either time to keep him on the bench or replace as he is struggling against sides so far at this level. Thats 2 strikers under-performing. We only have Harrison left who is still improving and pretty raw at this level. He didnt look at his best when he came on yesterday but maybe international football that he played 48 hours earlier and the travelling took some out of him. I thought Bodin looked impressive when he came on. I would be tempted to start him and Harrison next weekend vs Accrington. May get shot down for that!
I thought that kicking/throwing the ball away when a free kick was awarded against you was an automatic yellow card the same player for Oxford player got away with it twice maybe three times without a card being shown, I also thought that the tackle from behind on Mansell was illegal, I know the ref played advantage but surely he should shown a card when the move broke down
I was surprised by James Linington's performance as ref because we've had him at the Mem a few times before and he's done very well. He was much too quick to make the decision to send off Clarke, and although the challenge could have been perceived as dangerous player, there was no intent - just an honest attempt to win a header. I haven't seen a replay of the penalty but it certainly seemed like a good shout, ref could hardly have been better placed and Hoban's tackle looked clumsy. Both sides weren't done any favours but Rovers I feel were slightly more hard done by. As for the performance there were plenty of positives and I think Easter was very good in particular. But WHAT A GOAL. We probably won't see a better one at the Mem all season. Kemar Roofe is much too good for L2, but is only at Oxford because of Michael Appleton, as they worked together at West Brom. If it wasn't for that he'd be in L1 at the very least.
Here you go my friend. Obviously not the same angle that the ref had but clearly shows was a pen. Also at the end of the clip you can lip read what the ref seen.... "He got the ball".
I have a conspiracy theory for Saturdays game too vs Accrington. Ref for this game is Kevin Johnson. Never been a ref in our games before from what I can see. But he is from Weston Super Mud (which is mainly a City area). He was also ref back in December for City vs Yeovil and awarded City 2 pens and City won 2-1. Just have a bad feeling already!!!
Wouldn't he be classed as local and possibly biased towards us, but saying that it would be nice to have a homer for a ref for a change. That goal deserved to win any match. I wish that DC would try to instil into the team that it's ok to shoot from the edge of the area, once Ollie Clarke got sent off they all appeared to try to walk it into the net until things got desperate in the last couple of minutes
I agree with you when you say his work rate off the ball could have been better, but on the ball he looked sharp to me and showed a lot of nice touches, holding the ball up well and making space for teammates. However, I don't think he's the kind of striker who will score 15-20 goals for us this season.
Well if convert are chances and win the game then we won't have to talk about how bad the ref is (or will be)
