Ref Watch - Stevenage 0-1 Orient

I've not had to single out an officiating performance for a while now, and whilst we got a well-fought victory at Stevenage today, I still wanted to get these few points across while they were fresh in my head.

Today's refereeing performance started off as an annoying but oft expected "homer", with the man in the middle seemingly walking in fear of Stevenage's many brutish ball-hoofers, but descended into farce in the second half, when both sides had reason to be aggrieved with Darren Sheldrake. 

 

Only Orient, however, had cause to bemoan fourth official Ian Crouch (right). Crouch was apparently scrutinising Ben Chorley's 45th minute challenge with such an eagle eye, whilst at the same time operating the electronic board on which he was simultaneously holding aloft a signal of a minute's additional play, that he was able to advise Sheldrake (left) to produce the red card.

This added insult to injury as Orient had been trying to outplay Borough for the first 45 minutes - a task about as difficult finding the bald spot on Russell Slade's head - and were regularly frustrated by Sheldrake's inconsistent decision making.

A few memorable examples:

Within minutes of kick-off, Stevenage's 6-foot 2-inch centre-half half-wit Jon Ashton was mouthing off at David Mooney, right in his face, physically accosting our lone striker and clearly using excessively aggressive intimidation tactics.  This was allowed to continue and set the tone for Stevenage's gameplan, which Sheldrake was happy to tolerate.  http://www.stevenagefc.com/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10839~9840,00.html

On the left-side, the fourth official's side, our goalscoring midfielder Lee Cook was subjected to a stud-showing high boot from 6-foot 4-inch non-league graduate Michael Bostwick http://www.stevenagefc.com/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10839~36331,00.html and again, Sheldrake didn't penalise him.

Most annoyingly, 6-foot (are you sensing a pattern here) Chris Beardsley, who plays a brand of "football" about as beautiful as his Geordie namesake, left a foot in on Leon McSweeney, and got a friendly talking-to from the referee and a loving touch on the arm... but nothing more than a free kick for us.  Beardo then went down clutching his face after an innocuous tussle with Ben Chorley, which gave fourth official Ian Crouch his cue to interfere and point the finger of doom at our centre-back, who along with Scott Cuthbert [MOTM], was doing a great job in a makeshift back four.  http://www.stevenagefc.com/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10839~23260,00.html

To even it all up after the break (Darren had obviously been thinking deeply about his many mistakes), Sheldrake gave SBFC sub Chuks Aneke a straight red for a high foot that in the first half would probably not have even caused him to draw breath, let alone blow his whistle.  That, as per usual, was the main issue with the officiating today - inconsistency - it's just so annoying for the spectators, and even though both teams finished the match with 10 men, both sets of fans would not have been happy with the refereeing performance.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16331495.stm

http://www.leytonorient.com/page/MatchReport/0,,10439~59336,00.html

Do you remember any other shocking decisions from the match?  Lisbie's booking near the end of the match perhaps?  Your comments and thoughts are welcome and appreciated!

From Newmarket Nightmare to Freaky Frankel Fightback

As predicted, the Nan at Newmarket ninth decade celebration (http://palphabet.blogspot.com/2011/10/enjoyment-is-eternal.html) ended in despair as I chased losses and ended up around £600 down, backing short-priced favourites with reckless beer-blinded abandon, throwing all strategic research out the window.

I have to say, HQ premier enclosure disappointed somewhat: bar staff who didn't seem to know the difference between a pint of Guinness and a gin & tonic; security staff who wouldn't let my grandparents out onto the viewing gallery until they had necked their drinks (not an easy feat, even for my relatives, when you're more used to sipping than supping); staff in general who may have been drafted in for a particularly busy day but who really didn't represent the Cambs / Suffolk border in the way one would have expected. 

Ascot's Champions' Day, on the other hand, did not disappoint.  Some staff passes afforded entry into otherwise prohibited parts of the track, and at no point anywhere did men in orange vests attempt to curtail our enjoyment by demanding we take drinks inside.  Neither did any barmen or women need me to explain how to pour a drink.

The previous week's losses of a Monkey and a bag of hooves were more or less replenished thanks to hefty performances from Deacon Blues, Opinion Poll (TBP), hefty stakes on horse-of-a-generation Frankel, and hefty tipping from Mr Tom Segal, who we all followed in on the final handicap of the day, netting a 28-1 winner and a 17-1 place (Edinburgh Knight and Castles in the Air respectively) and returning just shy of 300 quid.

I'll let some pictures tell the rest of the story - we had a great day and I'd also like to recommend you check out beatboxing supremos Duke (@dukeofficial), who rounded off the ceremonies with a fantastic array of lip & tongue techniques not seen put to such good use since Emmanuelle IV.

You can see the look of love - and they both have the same smile :)

Trainer and owner soul-shake

Two Princes

Queeny and Queally share a moment

Ronnie Wood meets someone with fuller lips than Mick Jagger

Characters

The Irony

After years of stalking, I meet Brazil

YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!

I'm going to start making more than just mental notes of referees' names and their disconcertingly frequent penchant for ignoring the laws of Association Football, particularly whilst in charge of the proceedings on-pitch at Leyton Orient's Brisbane Road.  

Coote: Cunte

I got 2 right, didn't I?  No.

Two have stuck out in recent weeks: David Coote (left) officiating in the middle of our Tuesday night defeat to AFC Bournemouth a few weeks ago; and Oliver Langford (right) who was so so awful yesterday that home and away fans alike joined vocally together to berate him with a round of "YDKWYD" after he gave us a goal kick when it was clearly a Sheffield United corner, ignoring his assistant referee who was vigorously waving his flag to indicate that the ball had deflected at least 20 degrees off of a red-socked lower-leg.

If you have any rogue refs to add to the gallery, let me know.  I will try to report more comprehensively on the inadequacy of lower-league officials as the rest of the season unfolds - they really do seem to want to ruin it for everyone. 

DP