April: Woeful Whistler Report

How did the referees do against Carlisle United, Port Vale, Wycombe Wanderers, Colchester United, Coventry City and Accrington Stanley?

Carlisle United (a): Robert Lewis:

Lowest: 3
Highest: 6
Average: 4.43

Jamesimp: “6/10.

Thought he had a reasonable game, whether he should have given it in the first place or not, took some guts to overturn the penalty, though he could have done more to stop Allsop’s time wasting, he may have added 6 minutes but a few words should have been said at least. Did well to ignore a bit of play-acting from both teams.”

hulloutpost: “After 20 minutes I’d decided he was a homer after the game he was an awayer. Never really had control of the game and the penalty cock-up (thankfully the lino put him right) just about summed his performance up. Not good for either side but less damaging to our cause 3/10.”

PerthImp: “4/10 – very oddly handled game. Felt that quite often he gave us more than we normally get from refs. Was relieved when he changed his mind about the penalty decision – had the sense to check with the lino who, thankfully, put him straight. Can understand the anger of some of the Carlisle players, but at the end of the day both teams were trying it on so he didn’t do too badly I guess.”

Port Vale (a): John Busby:

Lowest: 5
Highest: 7.5
Average: 6.28

Jamesimp: “I don’t think he did a lot wrong, played a good advantage then went back and yellowed the offender later when Rowe was pulled back. Thought there was a bit of shirt pulling on Rheady, but whats new?

7/10.”

evenstephen: “5 – Was a bit too whistle happy at times but seemed to let some heavy challenges by the home team go. Didn’t get fooled by Pope’s fall in the first half but should have booked him instead of just telling him to get up. Seemed to allow the home side to time waste but got the bookings right. Didn’t penalise Rhead’s marker for trying to swap shirts during the match and we had one decent penalty shout which he missed.”

berksimps: “Above average for the away games we have had this season. 7/10.

Played advantage quite a few times, Rhead was unlikely to get any favours at Port Vale, and the ref was applauded after stopping play to book Rowe’s aggressor. Thought they wasted far less time than we do in similar circumstances; so the ref did not have to check why their keeper collapsed, or indeed hurry them at throw-ins. A reasonable performance.”

Wycombe Wanderers (h): John Brooks:

Lowest: 0
Highest: 4
Average: 1.7

PerthImp: “Very difficult game to ref but needed to be stronger – allowed Wycombe to get away with far too much time-wasting & play acting. Seemed to be quite a few decisions on FKs that went the opposite way than I expected from what I saw. 3/10.”

lindumimp: “Shame he didn’t crack down on the time wasting right from the start. That was awful to watch. I paid to watch 90 minutes of football not 40! Very poor and completely “played” by Wycombe. Would I have Ainsworth as a manager back here? No chance.

1/10.”

hulloutpost: “I don’t have a problem with Wycombe time wasting at all as that is their prerogative. I do have an issue with a weak ineffectual referee who was completely passive to what was going on and it was his fault that the game was ruined as a spectacle as he could and should have stopped it; reducing it to manageable levels. His decision making on the big incidents was questionable and he quite frankly had no control because he failed to impose himself early on. 2/10.”

Colchester United (h): Darren Handley:

Lowest: 3.5
Highest: 8
Average: 5.96

“Better than most we’ve had recently. Got the red card wrong I thought but most other bits right even giving a foul throw against Colchester.

7/10”

“I think the penalty and sending off were probably wrong and those are both very big decisions. For that reason, I can’t really give him more than 5/10.”

“Must be me then – personally I thought he was as bad as any other ref I’ve seen this season. Several times I just shouted at the computer screen in disbelief that a decision either wasn’t given, was given when I thought there was nothing, and was disrupting the flow of the game at times. And that was for both teams, so I’m not being that biased. No better than 4/10 for me.”

Coventry City (a): Mike Jones:

Lowest: 7
Highest: 9
Average: 7.94

“Excellent performance from the man in the middle last night, even though he did get a little ‘card happy’ towards the end!

8/10”

“Card happy at the end and probably booked a player who had only been on a few minutes but let play flow throughout. Was it a penalty down the other end? He didn’t think so and we scored from the subsequent counter-attack. I will go along with the majority 8/10”

“Very good. Actually handled Lincoln’s ‘game management’ very well. The only issue was not booking Biamou – surely a hot contender for the Sky Bet League Two Embarrassing Dive of the Season award.

9/10”

Accrington Stanley (a): Michael Salisbury:

Lowest: 4
Highest: 6
Average: 5.33

“Ok so he didn’t affect the result, we could have played all night and not scored. In saying that I lost count the number of times at set plays that Connelly had both hands around Greens waist stopping him moving. As for Rhead, sorry he’s got to shut and get on with it, he gives it so he should take it. Yellowed there keeper for time wasting, rightly didn’t give two penalties to us, ours looked a bit soft, to be honest, so 6/10.”

“If not spotting three handballs in Lincoln’s box in the lead up to the winning goal didn’t affect the result, I don’t know what did.

6/10.”

“4 for me. He was poor, missed handballs, soft free kicks, soft pen given and two more clear-cut ones not given to us.”

Related Articles:

August: Woeful Whistler Report

September: Woeful Whistler Report

October: Woeful Whistler Report

November: Woeful Whistler Report

December: Woeful Whistler Report

January: Woeful Whistler Report

February: Woeful Whistler Report

March: Woeful Whistler Report