Referee

Did anyone else think the ref had a really poor night? Obviously we aren't as bothered as it was a resounding victory.

Coutts should have had 2 yellows in the space of 2 minutes. Marquis got away with about 5 fouls without seeing a card. Connolly could quite easily have been sent off instead of a yellow, had Benson (think it was benson?) not been dragged down he would have had loads of space & time. Think we couldda had a penalty too? Although not certain & haven't seen it back, would definitely have been soft though. But overall I think the ref was very poor today. Happily, our fantastic result & even better performance plastered over it.

Edit - I think my punctuation is shocking here, I don't have my giggs on and I'm on phone so you'll have to forgive me if it's hard to make sense of

 

Agree 100%.

 

Weird I honestly thought he was bang on and let the game flow with some old fashioned challenges

 

Wet behind the ears.

 

That's fine to do. But it has to be consistent for both sides. There were 2 near our area in the second half which I give him credit for, they weren't fouls at all but I think other refs may have given them. But what I mention above annoyed me no end. Especially Marquis and Coutts

 

Wet everywhere after tonight mate.

 

I thought he was really poor. Was way too lenient with his cards and I may have imagined it but didn't he fall for the old fall over and grab hold of the ball trick a couple of times too?

 

Not sure on that one bud. I think if we didn't win that game though, we'd be fuming on here about the referee after that performance from him. He did let it flow at times, but made a lot of wrong calls. Apparently there was an off the ball incident between Marquis & Cundy too, but didn't see it. Does anyone know what/if it happened?

 

Marquis looked to kick out at him from what I saw but it wasn't a clear view

 

I thought he did ok given the conditions, made allowances for some mis-timed tackles and tried to let the game flow. Still don't know why he didn't book John Marquis though.

 

Agree, the ref was poor I thought.

Linesman in front of the west stand was poor too. Gave fouls for them yet Norwood got dragged around twice in the same play and nothing.

 

Y

Yep, the one in the first half where the ref pointed and counted the 5 previous fouls Marquis had committed and then took no action. Really poor that.

 

Actually thought he was best we have had in a long while. He let the game flow and got key decisions right. He gave a few to many soft free kicks, and 50:50's Rovers way. But overall did ok.

 

He wasn’t great but I’ve seen much worse. Tried to let things go on the wet pitch which is to be applauded - but he let Marquis off with far too many fouls before speaking to him; and there were some questionable calls to say the least. Not very good.

But we are in league one. Darren Drysdale has refereed in the championship but this is about his level - third level teams get third level officials.

Was it the fourth official that forgot to show the board for injury time or did the ref just not tell him how many minutes?

 

Thought he was excellent. Really good performance.

 

Happy for you mate. Wish I weren't as cynical

 

We were excellent too.

 

So you don’t think he let Marquis off lightly then, after pulling him up and pointing out the 5 previous fouls and then took no action. TBF, he wasn’t bad at all, but calling him excellent is a bit way ott in my opinion

 

Coutts 100% should have seen 2 yellows in my opinion. Marquis should have been booked. Connolly, I've slightly changed my mind a little having seen it again. Still think some refs would have red carded him though. I think he did well letting the game flow at times, but got a couple of potentially game-changing decisions wrong.

But as Jay mentioned, we were excellent. All over the pitch. Could quite easily have scored 3 more. Can't wait for our next match - been a long time since I felt that feeling!

 

Prior to that he'd let us play advantage twice after two fouls by Rovers. Eventually, after a couple of minutes of play, he stopped the game for another foul, a cynical challenge by a Rovers player after which there was no advantage. He booked that player. He also booked the player who made the foul after which he played advantage, even though it had happened a couple of minutes earlier. It was superb reffing. Less than a minute later, after just booking two Luton players, he brought them up again for a foul and had a long word with Marquis stating that anything else from him and he was going in the book. Marquis, as the ref had pointed out, had committed a few fouls, but none of them much at all. So the ref had a word. It worked. Marquis stopped fouling. I thought the ref was top drawer all evening, constantly letting the game flow, making the right calls, using the advantage rule but booking cynical fouls. So yes, excellent.