Finally, some positivity!

After what felt like many bad games back to back, either with my performance, confidence or the fact that I'd inadvertently ticked off one too many managers over the past few weeks, I went into this weekends games determined to ensure everything went as smoothly as possible, and low and behold, I had 2 almost perfect performances.

I started at King George fields in Berry Hill for a cup game between U16 First Division side Forest Town Pumas and Second Division Woodhouse Colts, in a game that was billed to be very one sided. In fact it was a very close tie with Woodhouse's guts neautralising Forest Town's quality, and it was the lower side that took the lead in the opening few minutes of the second half and held it for some time. It was inevitable though that Forest Town would eventually break them down, they'd done everything but including hit the bar, and force a world class save from the very petit Woodhouse stopper. They levelled with a great strike from distance before a mix up at the back between last defender and keeper saw the lanky Town striker nip in between and nod the ball over them both and into the empty goal.

At this point, Forest Town played a lot more casually, with some neat one touch football and stylish tricks but most attacks came to nothing prompting their skipper to remind them they were 2-1 up not 6-1. They were reminded of this even further when with just a couple of minutes to go, a long ball hit forward released a nippy Woodhouse striker who slotted in to equalise and force extra time.

I spoke with one of the makeshift linesman at the end of normal time who praised my performance and the flow of the game, to which I hoped this would continue. Unfortunately, I wasn't going to get everything spot on today and the biggest mestake I made came midway through the first period of extra time. The tall Town striker had forced his way through the Woodhouse defence and was bearing down on goal when one of the centre backs made a last ditch attempt to get a toe to the ball. From where I was it looked like he'd managed to do so, despite the striker crashing to the ground under the tackle. I waved him up much to the disgust of the home crowd and management and play continued.

Forest Town had by far the majority of possession and chances but couldn't find their way through the resilient Colts defence again and they began to get a little frustrated, causing one late tackle near the end of the game to wind up in my book. It hadn't been that sort of game though and was a shame to have had to caution someone so late but it probably would've only been a talking to anyway until he leathered the ball at an opposition player!

And so we had penalties to decide the outcome. The football fan in me wanted the underdogs to succeed but the referee in me hoped Forest Town made it so I wouldn't hear anything else of the penalty decision I knew I had got wrong during extra time. As it were, I had nothing to worry about as Woodhouse missed their first two kicks in very much a Waddle and Pearce fashion and went on to lose the shootout 4-2. I got a lot of congratulations for my part of a great game though the Forest Town manager did question the earlier penalty appeal to which I stated that I had probably got it wrong, to which he was quite ok with - it's a wonder what winning does to a person!

So the first game was a success but I wasn't feeling too confident about the second going so well. It was an U17 league game between Skegby Colts and Woodhouse Colts. This was my big return to Skegby having taken them near the start of the season in a very eventful cup game with Ollerton that ended 5-4 to the latter after extra time, in a match where I gave a penalty decision in the first minute against the home team, cautioned someone who really should've been sent off for a tackle that broke a leg, and had 120 minutes of earache from most of the Skegby players. Was I looking forward to this one, I think not!

Still, I like the challenge so went into the game with confidence and the feeling that I was going to have a good game. It started weirdly though as Skegby didn't appear from the changing room until 1:45 when kick off should've been 1:30. We eventually got started and the game started well. There were some meaty tackles right from the off but most were fair and I had no hesitation calling back the ones that weren't. I had to speak to a couple of players from each side as the tackles got harder and harder and I thought it may not be too long before someone needs booking but I resisted for as long as I could but made it clear that I wouldn't just stand by and watch while someone got hurt.

Skegby controlled much of the game and took a 2-0 goal lead into half time. The second half was contested just as hard but the tackles got fairer and I was pleased I hadn't shown a card yet. A third goal was scored by the home side which all but ended the tie and with this, a young player I recognised from the first game as being the guy who should've been sent where instead I gave a yellow, entered the field of play from the bench. Straight away he began making a nuisance of himself, going in a little hard on a player already on the floor, pulling shirts unneccessarily off the ball and then he took a dive from a clean sliding tackle. I had no hesitation but to book him and his captain, who had spent the 120 minutes of the cup game earlier in the season bellowing at me for every right or wrong decision, this time spent his energy wisely aiming his pleas at the young player who was doing everything he could to turn the yellow into red.

Woodhouse offered little throughout the game and were deservingly beaten 4-0 in all and no more cards were required in the game. It had been another great game and I was pleased when the Skegby manager came to chat about a perfect performance, praising me for resisting getting the cards out too soon and also for how I handled his mouthy substitute. It had been a great day and I felt my confidence grow as I learned from previous weeks, ensuring I went into the games fully focused and prepared to show whose in charge. I later heard that from one of the managers from the 2 games today I had received 100% marks, which can't happen very often!