Great game!

Great start too to the morning as I ended up at the wrong place for my match between Beaufort United U13's and Rainworth Tigers. I looked the place I was going to up on Google Maps and took the first place that it gave as the right one. Was funny sat in the car park 20 minutes before kick off with not a soul in sight! In the end I was only 3/4 of a mile from the right place and ended up there in the end.

I must've miscounted the players at the start, or maybe even forgot to do this with being in such a rush as a very close game was set up at 3-3 at half time and it was during the team talk that I heard the home side were playing with just ten men! This was an incredible effort to say that they had taken an early lead, and were leading 3-1 just 5 minutes before the break, all this whilst kicking uphill too!

To be fair, Beaufort had a very one-dimensional approach to the game, and I doubt this would have been any different if they were at full strength. They had a fairly quick and talented lone striker and the plan was to hoof the ball to him at every opportunity! It work inside 2 minutes too as the Rainworth defence misread the kick and he ran on to make it 1-0.

The first equaliser came with much dispute about it. The ball was bouncing in the Beaufort box when a home defender lashed it across his own area, to which the keeper picked it up. It was a dubious passback really thinking back but I gave it and 8 yards out, Rainworth slotted the ball home at the second attempt after the wall broke early to block the first.

The first half was pretty even, Rainworth perhaps looking the stronger overall, especially with the man advantage but looked suspect at the back, especially with Beauforts predator, who in fairly quick succession hit a first half hat trick. Rainworth were pleaded with by their management to not give up hope and a goal a few minutes before half time raised their spirits and a second right on the whistle saw them go in level.

Rainworth had the momentum going into the break and continued by going 4-3 up early in the second half, but United continued to fight and were soon level through that man again. Seconds later and he was upended in the box but saw his spot kick very well saved. Rainworht then began to control the game and 2 goals gave them a 6-4 lead, but Beaufort weren't done yet and pulled one back. With a few minutes to go, Tigers made it 7-5 and this was how it ended.

It was a very good game to take charge of and at the end I thanked both managers for such a spectacle. The Beaufort manager thanked me for such a good game myself, mentioning the poor call that led to Rainworth's first but otherwise saying I had done very well, so that was pleasing to hear.

I was supposed to be following this game up with an Under 16's tie between Forest Town Pumas and Ripley Town Colts but neither side had made contact and so I had the afternoon free.

2 at Underwood

I was down for 3 games at Underwood but the times meant that I had to give one up as I can't split myself in half! The one I ended up not doing was only as assistant in an Under 9's cup semi final, which is still played at 7 aside with no offside so it's not as though 2 assistants were crucial!

The first match was an U14's league game between Underwood and Robin Hood Colts. It was a great game to officiate, with not too much to do. It was quite end to end stuff with chances at both ends. There was an early caution for a Robin Hood forward who was putting his weight about early on, firstly with a slightly late slide on the goalkeeper which I let go with a warning, and then another on a defender which brought out the yellow.

Underwood were playing well and deservingly led at half time through a penalty given when a well struck shot was sent wide of the target by the arm of a defender. The Robin Hood manager had a word with me at half time, claiming to have heard taunts from the touchline aimed at winding his cautioned striker up. I'd not heard these but had a word with the Underwood manager as a precaution.

The second half brought not much change with Underwood playing some slick football and Robin Hood left to rely on long balls for their striker to deal with. Underwood went 2-0 up with 20 minutes to play and a late rally from Robin Hood left for a tense finish when a cross-come-shot by the Robin Hood target man looped over the keeper for 2-1. Villa held on though for the 3 points.

Slight confusion followed this game when another official turned up and was under the impression he was taking the next game on this pitch but I knew I was doing back to back games. It was resolved though when the Underwood U13's manager asked for me as it was I that he had spoken to earlier in the week and it turned out that the other official was the second assistant for the U9's game I couldn't do.

The next game was the U13's league tie between Underwood and Blackwell. I had last seen Blackwell when they were well beaten in a cup game at Forest Town but this was a more fairer battle, and one that they prevailed in.

Another tough battle with first Underwood starting strong and then Blackwell controlling for periods before my second penalty award of the day came as Underwood's forward was brought down clinically in the box and amid claims it was outside the box, I had absolutely no doubts it was inside, and really I should be thanked for being lenient as not to have shown a card when another referee would.

The oenalty was saved though and the rebound was gathered also by the keeper and this led to a huge lift in Blackwell's game. It was still 0-0 at half time but by this time Blackwell were having more than their fare share of posession which continued into the second half.

Underwood were now having to play on the break but were still creating chances. As the game got later, it looked like a 0-0 was well on the cards but at the death from a corner, which sailed straight into the goal. Blackwell celebrated as if it was a league winner, though for all I know it could well have been!

Moments later I blew for full time and both managers thanked me for a good game. I am pleased that my own good form continues but it hels when the games are played as fairly as they have been as of late.

More controversy!

I had hoped after recent weeks that my single game of the weekend could go fluently, just for once, without any issues on my part. Everyone knows a referee should be heard and not seen, and from our viewpoint, a succesful match means we've turned up, said little, let the game flow, got paid and gone home! This was just another of those games that from fairly early on I just wanted to go home!

Arriving at Forest Town Welfare shortly before the game, I spoke with both managers, checked the pitch and the goals and prepared to have a good game. It was an under 13's game, which from previous experiences this season run fairly smoothly and from the discussions with the managers, looked as though it would be fairly one sided with Forest Town - the top flight team, having beaten Blackwell - a division 2 side, comfortably in previous meetings.

I remembered many of the Forest Town players from when I had taken my old Welbeck side their on a couple of occasions and knew they were a talented, though very arrogant and unsporting side. However it was Blackwell that started the brighter, playing on the counter they forced 2 or 3 clear opportunities to break but couldn't quite muster a clear shot on goal, before Forest Town started to take control. They took the lead through a well taken lob and were 2-0 up soon after from a long range effort that the short Blackwell keeper couldn't get across to.

There was then a clash in the Blackwell penalty box when their tough centre back went into a 50-50 tackle strongly with a smaller but fiesty Forest Town winger. The ball was very much there to be won and both lads went in hard but the home player went in a little harder with one foot showing a little too much stud, catching the Blackwell player just above the shinpad. There were bellows from the sides for a red card and after ensuring the Blackwell player wasn't too injured, I pulled the winger to one side to have words and to book him.

In recent weeks I've been disappointed that when speaking to players I've not been clear or confident enough, and that it was a big part of my game I needed to improve upon. This time I ensured I spoke firmly and clearly, informing the player that his tackle was a little reckless, he had every right to go for the ball and hadn't put a foot wrong up to that point but that it did merit a booking. He accepted it which made it easy, hopefully I'll be as confident when speaking to older players and also be able to deal confidently with any follow up verbal.

The Blackwell touchline committee were angry that only a yellow had been shown and after speaking to their manager that it was a yellow card offense, it appeared that a recent match between the 2 sides had seen the cautioned player play in a dangerous manner, resulting in a broken ankle for a Blackwell player. Unfortunately I don't have access to previous history of teams at this level and it doesn't quite make the News of the World. I can only focus on the game to hand. At one point the Blackwell physio attending to the player was raving about the tackle, telling me to get a grip on the game and that the tackle was shocking and merited a red card, and he should know as he's a doctor.... I had to laugh, does this then give me the right to march into his surgery and claim that the last injection he just did was shocking and I should know as I'm a referee?!!

The Blackwell sideline were clearly infuriated by the incident and it was made worse shortly after when another player was caught in possession going forward, colliding with the Forest Town player nipping in to take the ball away from under him causing him to go down on the half way line but play continued. As it wasn't a head injury, the player didn't look under any immediate distress and the play had now moved to a totally seperate part of the field, I had no urgent requirement to stop play. Looking back I wish I had but I hoped the home side would do me a favour and kick it out of play in a sporting fashion, but they didn't and to make matters worse, they scored from it. This made the touchline furious for the remainder of the game, getting on my back at every little occasion.

I was glad to bring the first half to an end and at 3-0, the game was very much Forest Town's even at this stage. I hoped the second half would go a lot smoother, which to some extent it did but it still wasn't easy. I psyched myself up at half time to have a good second half and forget the first. Despite the incidents I still felt as though personally I was having a good game and making the correct decisions. I wasn't allowing myself to be swayed by either set of coaches and fans and just stuck to the task at hand.

There were no major incidents in the second half, just a hell of a lot of goals. 7 to be precise, all going in Forest Town's favour leaving them with a 10-0 win. There was also just a lot of moaning from one side of the field for everything that went against the away side. At one point I got an almighty - though highly ironic cheer when I did give something their way, which was nice... There was a little dispute over the first goal of the half as a Forest Town player stretched to keep the ball in play, which he did by a country mile, but the linesman did flag for the throw in, probably very wary of the Blackwell coach just 2 feet away. I was merely 10 yards away though and could see that not even a portion of the ball had crossed the line let alone all of it but the Blackwell players stopped allowing the home side an easy goal. In fairness, the Blackwell manager didn't dispute it, I'm sure he could clearly see it was still in play but at this point looked like he'd lost the will to appeal and just told his players to enjoy the rest of the game as nothing was going in their favour. Murmours on the opposite side of the pitch from the Blackwell travellers were just as bad as they felt that the world was against them, having just witnessed a goal against them after the linesman had signalled a throw in.

I was pleased to call time on the game and was congratulated by many of the home fans and coaching side, knowing that I had got at least most decisions correct, and that I had well earnt the £19 after the stick taken by the other half. I had to pass the Blackwell parents on the way to the car and at first considered just waiting for them all to leave first before deciding I'd nothing to hide from and as long as I managed the situation well enough I should be ok. I got a handshake from 'the doctor' which I was pleased about as he was one of the Blackwell sides leading the protests, then despite some of the narkings of the parents, showing concern for one of the injured players went down well and we ended up discussing the lack of sportsmanship from Forest Town on a number of occasions, namely when one player had been felled and took a bump to the head, the home side were seen to be laughing. It was very disappointing but from my position there's not a great deal I could do other than issue warnings, which I did and nothing else became of it. Still, another day, another dollar!

"Well done ref!"

At last! After 3 full months of tiring, difficult though thoroughly enjoyable games as an FA qualified referee, I received my first in-game positive shout from a club manager today!

I was to spend the day in Rainworth for two games for the Rangers at U13 and U16. I hadn't actually heard from the U16 side so hoped by just turning up, I was still able to take the game following the U13 match and that by them not having contacted me meant they had found themselves a replacement. As it happened upon arriving at the ground I learned that the U16 side had folded so I was left with just the single game. I spoke to the referee secretary at half time to see if there was any chance of an afternoon game but the only option was being a linesman at a game quite far away and I didn't fancy travelling all that way to spend almost 2 hours earning just a tenner. The experience would have been useful though.

Making do with the one game, it was a league game between Rainworth Tigers and Drezden Colts, both sides I knew well from my experience as a manager at this age group. I assumed it would bea bit of a whitewash as Rainworth Tigers were quite a strong side from memory, with experience in the top flight, whilst Drezden had fell upon bad times recently, losing a lot of players and spending the past season or two down near the foot of division 3.

As it went though, it was a very close game, both sides creating many chances early on and it stayed tight for the majority of the game. At the start I was informed that one of the Rainworth players suffered from Tourettes syndrome so I shouldn't reprimand him for foul language. As the players were warming up I sought out the player by the number I was given so that I knew who to ignore, but typically I got the wrong one so had stern words with the first player who told me where to go in less friendlier terms! I quickly realised that this was the young player I now had to turn a blind eye too.

Rainworth took the lead in the first half, about 10 minutes in but Drezden were playing well and battled back to equalise. On 2 or 3 occasions, when the away side broke the flag was quite quick to go up even if it looked quite close so I made sure I was keeping up with play to check that the decisions being made were accurate, especially as the Drezden manager was becoming more and more frustrated with the close calls. I'm usually quite good for spotting the linesman as if a ball is played where there is any suspicion of offside, I'll look straight across at him but at one point in the first half, not long after Rainworth had gone 2-1 up, a scramble in the box from a corner led to Drezden equalising again but I was being informed that the flag was up. I went across to speak to the linesman who couldn't quite explain why he had flagged, he just said someone was offside. I questioned which player was offside, if they had played the ball or interfered in any way but the response was quite muted so I didn't hesitate to award the goal.

Again in the second half, the flag popped up on every possible occasion so when it looked dubious I overuled it, much to the delight of the Drezden manager who made a very vocal point of praising me for it. It was great for the confidence as referee's get so much stick so it was finally nice to have some very positive feedback. I had felt that I had got it right and by displaying that I wasn't going to just acknowledge the assistant every time he raised his flag, it seamed to do the trick as it only now went up when there was a clear call to be made.

The rest of the game then went smoothly, Rainworth eventually running out 5-3 victors but Drezden can take a great deal of heart from the performance and I myself was delighted with my own game. After the game a number of spectators from both sides also thanked me for a good game so I took a lot of heart from today.