I couldn’t believe he wouldn’t restart the game when the Dhaby players were having a drink and chat on the touchline and BFc players were waiting! Very poor.
Him and his assistant on EastStand side gave every benefit of doubt to Derby. Funny part was when assistant flagged a throw for Derby when it couldn’t have been more clearer it was ours, ref over-ruled, poor communication considering they had the headsets. 2 fouls on Cosgrove, one in our box went unpunished, and the one where there player just barged straight into him, foul given but both players called over. Overall, I thought he was poor, allowing players in his ear ( especially Derby’s) a 3 from me
Let Derby players get away without cards for some awful tackles, (one in particular where the Derby player went right through from behind) yet booked ours for some innocuous challenges. I was particularly incensed by one where it was clearly a 50/50 ball and both players went for it yet the card was shown to the Barnsley player. 4 yellows for us against 1 for them just about sums it up.
Wavering between 4 and 5. Seemed to give a lot of 50/50 decisions Derby's way, which is supported by the stats, although the one he gave us in a dangerous area for the foul on McAtee I thought he got wrong. Failing to give us a free kick when they were manhandling our entire defence at a corner could have been costly. It was however a high-stakes, high-octane game which can't have been easy to ref. Didn't lose control and was generally sensible with his cards. Not brilliant but seen far, far worse.
4 for me. The major thing letting the Derby players have a drinks break in the first half. Would have loved to seen what would have happened if our players decided to have one at 90 + 1 minutes
It’s all well and good getting the ref changed but didn’t Wildsmith make his league debut with us? You tend to have a soft spot for the club that gave you your debut.
I've never rated Wildsmith so I was happy to see him in their goal. As it happened he had no chance with either goal.
I often hear people raving about him, but I've always seen him as a very average keeper who's always got a booboo in his locker. The abuse from the crowd clearly got to him yesterday, and in last season's fixture as well.