I was over the moon with the result. I don't think we played anywhere near as well as we can, and losing Morris early in the game forced us to tweak our game plan. Its the sort of game that under Struber, Stendel (in the Champ at least) Morais, Heckinbottom etc, we'd have gone on to lose by the odd goal. We got the goal, and whilst we didn't go all out for the second, I thought we worked very hard to keep Coventry at arms length. Despite their chances, they only mustered 2 efforts on target. On another day, we might have scored from the chance that fell to Oduor, who looked a little like a rabbit in headlights in front of goal. We also had a great opportunity when Ben Williams got into space in the box, but sliced his first time cross into the side netting. You feel that had Woodrow for example, been on the end of those, we'd have seen a bit more quality in the final third. Callum O'Hare was always going to be their danger man, but I think when we were able to freshen up the midfield by bringing Benson on, we managed to nullify any threat he posed. He became less effective as the game went on. In regards to the number of cards. There were too many professional fouls in there. I don't think we can argue with about 4 of the bookings. The one for Woodrow looked a blatant dive, and the ref reacted to the theatrics rather than the actual challenge. His assistant was looking directly at it too and didn't intervene. The booking for Collins was justified, however demonstrated the inconsistency in refereeing. Countless times we see goalkeepers time waste excessively and not even receive a warning. Collins was booked the very first time he delayed taking a goal kick. And then the penalty. Its difficult to tell whether Williams gets a touch on the ball. From the direction the ball travels after the contact, I'd say he probably does. But the referee had absolutely no idea, and his assistant was behind it, so can't have been 100% certain himself. You've got to be assertive with those calls at that stage in the game. I disagree with some who say he's the worst ref we've had since Kettle, or even Willard. He wasn't great, but we had much worse last season. But for me, this is why you need VAR. When used correctly, it can be a valuable tool. Look at the Euro's, it was used efficiently during them, and the quality of the match didn't suffer as a consequence. For the 3rd game in a row, we're questioning whether the officials got a big decision right. Still, a wins a win. The performances will improve, and we'll take points off a lot of teams this season. Much to be optimistic about in my opinion.
Was Collins booked for time wasting? I thought he was booked for dissent after the ref decided not to give a free kick for a blatant body check against Woodrow on the edge of the box, which they resultantly broke from
I thought Woodrow went down way too easily and the fact he clutched his face was just embarrassing. One of those where if it’s the opposition you’re going mad for them to get up and be booked for driving, but when it’s your player you’re doing the same in the opposite direction. Both teams (especially Helik and Kitching) we’re body checking the whole game. Was great to see after years of us being ‘soft’. Collins was definitely booked for dissent and not time wasting.
Woodrow was booked for a 'foul' in the corner near the away end. Benson was booked for not retreating, not that he had the chance to. He was getting back to his feet and their player kicked the ball at him.
I agree with most of this post other than the quality of the referee & one linesman. Sorry they were as bad as I've seen in a long time. Referee did not react to the tackle & the linesman did not flag. 10-15 seconds elapsed & he pointed to the spot. Biased nice person.
That was annoying. How many times does this happen and it never gets punished?! And like you’ve said, their player didn’t even give him chance. Not sure what the ref had at half time but he came out for the second half in an angry mood.
I've given him the benefit of the doubt as I can't tell whether he got the games only big decision wrong or not. Refs like Trevor Kettle, Andy D'Urso, Uriah Rennie and Gary Willard got the big decisions wrong in our games, that ultimately cost us points. He got the little decisions wrong, no doubt, and gave us absolutely nothing. You got the impression by the end of the game that he was dying to make a big call, and we'd all predicted a red card.
