Jonathan YeomansFor a change there’s a bit more than normal for my refs watch. For this report I shall be analysing the Coventry & Bristol City games.
First of all the Coventry game. Every ref has a team that they will clash with. This was for certain in this game. You could see that the ref was going to be finickity and give everything.
As a ref you will want to demonstrate your authority and that the team who you clash with if they complain then can respond by saying that they brought it on themselves.
The ref was doing it to both sides so there’s no room for complaints. If teams complain then you can say you were playing to the rules.
The major talking point was the potential penalty against Grimes. My first reaction was that it wasn’t. The replays didn’t give the best angle. There was talk that VAR may have given it. I was quite surprised that even that I didn’t think it wasn’t a pen. As some refs will look to give anything.
It wasnt a dirty game by either side, but as mentioned the ref gave everything to show he was in charge.
Onto the Bristol City game. There are 2 talking points. First their right back should have with no doubt received at least 2 yellows.
Nigel Pearson did well to sub him before half time as he didn’t even want to allow another tackle and be down to 10 players
However, it was frustrating that this was so blatant. Onto the penalty. I felt that is was only given because the ref knew he had missed at least one earlier in the game. However, the one that was given was for me not a pen.
The only person who appealed was Bidwell which based on his body language it appeared to be hopeful.
Sometimes as ref you will look to make up for your mistake Lots of refs will not admit to this, but it happens quite a lot.
