Formic wrote:I didn't think the referee was having too bad a game until the Sam Brown incident - perhaps a bit over fussy on where throw-ins were taken, but we gave the ref at Sileby stick for having the opposite policy. The ref was also ready to explain his decision after the game, which was commendable, and if you don't see an incident properly you can't just make a decision based on how bad the injury is - as we saw in the Sunderland v Wigan game.
Similarly, whilst I'd agree one of the offside decisions was clearly wrong (although others were criticised despite being correct), as Sam Brown was clearly onside when he ran onto a chip forwards, but he and Deven Elwood were a long way from the official and at that distance its not so easy to spot that Elwood wasn't close enough to the ball to be interfering with play.
Sam Brown's tweets overnight suggest the injury might not be as bad as first feared.
Up until 'that' incident I thought the ref was having an excellent game, one of the best performances we've seen this season (and I'm not just saying that in case he's reading this before reffing our game on Saturday ;) ). Credit to him also for explaining his decision after the game; he didn't actually see the contact himself, which was why he spoke to the assistant on that side, and it was the assistant who said it didn't deserve a card!
If the ref doesn't see it he can't give anything, so he has to put his faith in his assistants, who on this occasion let him down.
