Inconsistent officials cost us victory
CONSISTENCY is the key on the football pitch, not just the way we perform, but also in the way the officials deal with each decision they have to make.
At Alfreton, under the greyest of skies and the constant threat of rain, sleet and snow, it was the lack of consistency that ultimately cost us not just the game but our play-off place as well.
Being undefeated in the league since December is quite frankly an amazing situation to be in and the hopes and dreams of promotion are tantalizingly close, we’ve had great results against some decent teams in that run which meant that going to a team like Alfreton, who aren’t exactly the best team in the division, seem like an easy three points.
Now I know you shouldn’t take anything for granted and football is always capable of throwing a spanner in the works but this was a game we needed to and should have won.
We didn’t because we lacked that killer instinct and the referee made one of the worst decisions I can ever remember while at the other end he let a foul go unpunished.
He wasn’t consistent in his decision making and that inconsistency contributed to the dropping of two points.
The game kicked off on a pudding of a pitch but both sides looked to have its measure, in the first 15 minutes we could have been 3-1-up as Danny Lloyd and Jimmy Ball missed what looked like sitters from our end, while Alfreton, after Chris Smalley made a hash of a pass, had a 2 on 1, only the determination of Michael Clarke kept the score level.
Our goal came from the games only real bit of skill.
The best cross of the day from Lloyd found the head of Josh Amis who couldn’t miss and sent the travelling faithful into raptures. Surely the flood gates would open? No they didn’t.
In the second half the referee, Kelvin Sarsfield bottled it. The home keeper handled outside of the box, Amis is taken out of the game (he had to be subbed) and to the amazement of every County supporter there, he awarded the home team a free kick, if I hadn’t have seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t have believed it.
Then at the other end a melee in our box results in an equaliser when there was at least three fouls committed on Ben Hinchcliffe alone. From forth to sixth in a blink of an eye and some huge games coming up too.