As ***** as the ref has been

I honestly thought plymouth were a better side when they joined us at Oakwell, in that first half certainly. I will say Ipswich are more clinical however, just think Plymouth play better football overall. Can't think of any others though. Wycombe just bullied us at our place

 

Blah blah blah. The ref was ****. He just was.
We lost because we weren't as good as Ipswich in key places but that doesn't excuse the fact the ref was ****. I think this constant 'youre bitter if you criticise a ref' is absolute bullcrap and one of the biggest reasons that redfs are so **** is because of the narrative that if you criticise them you're bitter. No it's because they're **** and not doing what they're paid to do

 

But we may not have done, we could have missed the penalty. Ok, chances are we would have probably won that game (even if we missed the pen) but there's no guarantees we'd have then beaten Shrewsbury on Easter Monday and that that game would have played out the way it did. It's all hypothetical, however, you can't have people being biased by saying we'd have beaten X number of sides had certain refereeing decisions gone in our favour whilst failing to acknowledge other games could have played out differently.
Overall I think Duff has done a remarkable job and we are where we deserve to be after 44 games..

 

It certainly wasn’t a 3-0 game, and up to their first goal there was nothing in it. But when things are going for you they appear to keep going for you. I wonder how their budget will look at Championship level, because being the biggest spenders in this league is one thing, the league above is a different proposition altogether.

 

Not necessarily a bad thing being comprehensively beaten, stops any complaceny hopefully. The ref was poor, but that wasn't the reason we lost

 

Said the same coming out of the ground. Wycombe beat us 3-0 and outmuscled us, Exeter beat us and pass and moved us to death. Tonight certainly didn’t feel like a 3-0 with a missed penalty too.

 

I do think there are issues with referees that need addressing. I did acknowledge in another post that tonight was frustrating and clearly some decisions have gone against us. I don't know what the answer is but I have stated on here previously that referees are afforded too much protection and should have to come out and explain the rationale behind some of their decision making.

 

Congratulations to Ipswich. If they go on to confirm promotion, which is now all but certain, they will have deserved it because their form has been phenomenal.

Seems a strange one for me tonight because we lost 3-0 and I am not too upset. We didn't deserve to win, Ipswich did. Fair do's.

Tonight was their night. We look forward to our turn in the play offs, hopefully.

 

The only solution for me is for them to be mic'd up so everyone can hear the absolute rubbish excuses they come up with. Only then will they improve because they'll be forced to. The other problem is that when I called the fa years ago to discuss a ref (can't remember exactly why) they confirmed to me that the only requirements the PGMOL have to meet to trigger an automatic contract extension was supplying 4 officials to each and every game. No minimum standards and no option to change referees organisation if they supplied the mandatory 4 officials each game. With the PGMOL guaranteed an income with no threat of losing the contract then of course there's no incentive to improve

 

I thought that was a game between the best 2 teams in the league for 43 minutes.
We should go into the playoffs full of confidence.
At our best we beat anyone, however I do think it's time the club called out the standard of officials. I definitely think there is a big club bias and in the last 20 years we aren't seen as as big a club as the other 3 teams likely to be in the playoffs and should Peterborough make it through we haven't as big a mouthpiece as their gobshite chairman. Mark my words any controversial decisions will go against us, " little old Barnsley " and I for one am fed up of it. I'm no great fan of VAR but had it been in use in Division 1 this season we would be promoted already for sure and I defy anyone to tell me any different.
Rant over!!!
COYR

 

Beaten by a better side but at 1-0 we yet again get denied a penalty that was nailed on. sadly this time while we're trying to get back in line we concede another..game over..2nd half the ref has been in the Ipswich dressing room to get instructions of how to ref the game..sadly our weaknesses were exposed tonight and if we get through the playoffs were going to seriously need to rebuild.

 

It actually worries me a lot that. I know we have to take our chance when it presents itself and I'm as up for winning the play offs as anyone else but in the grand scheme, don't shoot me down, but I do wonder whether it would be better in the long term to have another season at this level building a squad that can compete at the level above.

Edit: as long as we keep Duff.

 

This is what we need to remember.

12 months ago there were a lot of people predicting a battle to avoid a drop straight through the division. Credit to Duff, the backroom staff, the players and those behind the scenes - that has never looked like happening.

As the season has gone on there's been an atmosphere and belief building in the stadium that's been missing for some time. Fans backing the team and individual players. Players rallying fans and acknowledging the backing.

At the start of the season I said I'd be happy with top half and a rebuild. To have been in with a chance of automatic promotion this deep into the campaign was beyond what I could have hoped for. And we still have the chance of promotion.

It's not been a bad season at all.

 

On the subjects of refs, not hard to see how better refereeing would have made up the difference. The sh;t show at Accrington, Coles goal against Portsmouth, only rivalled by the Burton penalty and an unknown effect on the result of the Bolton at home game. Taking the last one out, that still leaves a quite likely seven points. If we miss out in the play offs, we need some lessons on throwing ourselves to the ground every time somebody touches us and sledging the life out of the officials. The EFL always had Ipswich pencilled in for one spot, we're a better team than Plymouth or Wednesday but just gave Plymouth too much of a headstart. We are starting to look leggy, wouldn't mind some young UN's for last couple of games and some r and r for the first team.