arbitro

The little nobber who gave it the big 'un in front of us after scoring scurried off the pitch quickly at the end. His celebration was almost as embarrassing as having a baked potato on the front of your shirt.

If the season ended now he would be my POY.

I spoke to several Rovers fans before the game and every one of them would have taken a draw so the delirium in the ground at the final whistle was perfectly understandable. I thought we started quite slowly and were really careless in some of our play particularly our passing. But in fairness we grew into the game and aside from the first fifteen or so minutes were the better team. Going ahead just before half-time should have been the perfect fillip but to concede in the next minute should really have knocked the stuffing out of us but from the first whistle in the second half we were excellent. Morishita showed what a talent he can be as he seemed to play a bit more centrally and his creativity had us on the front foot on many occasions. Defensively we were excellent as a unit as we headed, kicked and blocked any threat that they posed. I thought Tronstad was outstanding tonight as he ran the midfield both defensively and offensively. They simply couldn't match him. Ohashi once again never stopped running and Hedges showed what an important player he is for us as he worked the line. Special mention to George Pratt tonight though. Making your debut in a local derby live on Sky must have been daunting for him but he came through with flying colours. Why didn't Ismael trust him to play against Derby and release Hedges to his best position. I had some doubts about the triple substitution which I thought was too many to make at once but to be fair to Ismael it worked as we saw the game out comfortably. There are many things wrong with our club but nights like tonight make me realise why my love affair of many decades is still strong.

For me I think it was more a criticism of Mr Aloof's logic. Hedges isn't very good in the air and is our best left sided wing back. It was a double whammy for me and whilst it didn't cost us the game it contributed to it in my opinion.

It's getting to the point with me that I'd cut my losses with Carter and get rid of him. I rate him as a player but his unreliability supersedes that by a country mile. It's almost like a competition between him and Wharton to see who can be unavailable the most. 😁 But somewhere inside me I wonder if the managers cryptic comments about Carter are rankling with him. Expect Mr Aloof then to play Hedges as a left sided centre back as he is more equipped (using Mr Aloofs Derby rationale) to deal with Nobbers aeriel threat. I feel it's going to be a long night.

I don't know for certain but as I don't have a printer we will using the digital ticket to access the ground. Presumably they will scan the printed ticket at the turnstiles so I don't see any difference. It seems pointless to issue digital tickets if you are mandated to print them off assuming Nobbers use the same environmental excuse as Rovers.

The 'clear and obvious' aspect of VAR is what leaves much ambiguity and as you allude to causes much debate. When VAR was introduced with the clear and obvious instruction I thought after a while they would drop that and allow the officials a certain amount of latitude through dialogue. VAR has become stagnant and should have moved on and learned from errors.

One of the few things VAR can get involved in as a result of a clear and obvious error is a penalty. The referee, having seen the replay gave the penalty. A clear indication that he was wrong in the first Instance as he could easily have stuck with his decision of no foul.

The fact he hasn't been very good on the pitch has nothing to do with his comments.

The referee didn't even think it was a foul so nothing would have been given without VAR. Given the speed it is almost impossible in real time to determine whether it was in or out of the penalty area. I don't like VAR but you have to say on this occasion it did its job.

I was going to post something similar. He is correct in his comments and they shouldn't be held against him.

Just be aware that the QPR match is scheduled for February 14th which is also FA Cup Fourth Round day. If either us or QPR progress from the Third Round this game will almost certainly be moved to a night match.

I'm not sure that the game generally is as physical as it was and that is all relative. I watch NPL and, having refereed on there in the early 90's I don't believe it is anything like it was. Lots of players at that level now have come through Academies where physicality is kept to a minimum. One benefit could be the facilities and pitches. Any entitled young player won't be too well accepted if he expects the same great and gives it the big 'un.

I saw him play a couple of times for Atherton Colls and I agree it's different for a goalkeeper whose job is essentially the same whatever the level.