You are indeed correct mate, which means although Pearson is still 6 bookings away, Josh Scowen is only 1 booking away from a suspension.
It's noticeable how much he sneakily keeps hold of the ball to hold up set pieces or kicks the ball away slyly. That at Scunny could have got him a second booking. Also when a foul goes against him he puts us in trouble from time to time by wasting time whinging at the ref for not giving the decision, instead of trying to get the ball back. Hopefully in time this will change because he's an alright player. Does like a card though.
Got booked unnecessarily yesterday by standing in front of the ball for a few seconds to prevent a Gills free quick. Their player blasted the ball at him - and Pearson was booked.
The officials were atrocious yesterday - it was seconds after the free kick had been awarded and their player seemed to intentionally kick the ball at him so that it appeared he was obstructing.
Genuinely don't know what the rule is on this. Every team I watch (including us) stands over the ball to prevent quick free kicks. They're trained to do it. The only time referees penalise it is if the player kicks the ball at them. Either they should penalise it every time or not at all. For me, the onus should be on the team that concedes the free kick to retreat, why should they gain an advantage from slowing play down.
I thought the referee was pretty fair yesterday. I wouldn't have argued if he'd sent off Pearson and Davies for constant play acting. Unnecessary and got their crowd going when they'd pretty much given up. I was sat in the home stand (not through choice) with my missus (an Arsenal season ticket holder), her friends mum (who's daughter was stewarding) and her husband (a Dagenham & redbridge ST holder). The neutral view was it was an awful game which Barnsley were pretty comfortable in but dour and happy to settle for what they were given. Gillingham were truly awful though. My local non league team have more quality.
They were rubbish at Oakwell so it was a surprise to see them on such a good run. New manager I suppose
Speaking with the steward after the game, she was saying much of the good run has been down to their width and getting crosses in. Perhaps shows how good Holgate and Smith did. I thought Smith especially did well against McGlashan who couldnt outpace him (his one tactic pretty much). Poor game allround though. Plus points the fullbacks and Davies.... and that was about it. Very disappointed in O'Sullivan and his regular strops.
Great to see Holgate and Smith progressing. What annoys me is when our fans bang on about how awful the opposition is if we win. Perhaps, like you pointed out, our defence and midfield stopped them playing. Thus perhaps we played well rather than they played badly. Still. Great result. Hope we can keep it up.
Seriously, they were awful. And they were pretty unfit too with many looking a bit Jenningsesque (which was highlighted by a neutral). They struggled to string 3 passes together and found touch often with simple passes. We didn't especially press them into mistakes, they were just very very poor. In the end, we beat them pretty easily while being averages ourselves. Good we beat what was in front of us, but make no mistake, they were a very very poor side on the day for whatever reason... a view many Gills fans around me were happy to vocalise for most of the second half.
Watching the youtube highlights it's a bit worrying that we are still leaving the door open on the left.
