DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
RateTheRef
HTML https://ratetheref.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: EFL League 1, 2 & National League Prem
*****************************************************
#Post#: 100248--------------------------------------------------
Re: Sat 17th – Thu 22nd JAN 2026
By: olliebcafc Date: January 17, 2026, 3:48 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Acme Thunderer link=topic=7610.msg100238#msg100238
date=1768680892]
Crewe Alexandra FC (First Team) v Barrow AFC (First Team)
Football League 2
Referee: Stockbridge, Sebastian
Assistant Referee: Allen, Ashley
Assistant Referee: Felton, Niall
Fourth Official: Pratt, Neil
A very mixed bag from Seb this afternoon. Two early fouls from
Barrow players saw no yellow cards produced but a similar
challenge from a Crewe player did see yellow, mainly (in my
view) because Seb failed to allow a fairly obvious advantage to
Barrow as they moved the ball out of defence. So, in my view, a
cop-out for not playing the advantage and it left the Crewe
player with most of the game trying to avoid a second yellow.
Seb seemed to settle down after this shaky start but I noted two
incidents in the second half which had me baffled, one where he
allowed play to recommence early when he had clearly indicated
'wait for my whistle' at a free kick, and then towards the end,
he appeared to bring out a yellow card for a Crewe player
(correctly), but then hurriedly put it away as Barrow decided to
get on with the game which they were chasing at that point. I'm
not sure where that leaves the Crewe player and whether he was
carded or not. All-in-all, a good result for the Alex but not so
good from Seb.
[/quote]
On the final incident, the referee is entitled to do that but
must caution when the ball next leaves the field if it was for a
reckless foul, if SPA then the card shouldn’t be given. Saying
that, if he has already began the process of issuing the card
then the game must be stopped.
We nearly had that today at Bradford, Tilt stopped a promising
attack but Cardiff took the free kick quickly. However as the
card was already out a couple of our defenders stopped, and so
the card had to be given. See also, Gillingham-Mansfield a
couple of years ago where a goal was incorrectly allowed
#Post#: 100302--------------------------------------------------
Re: Sat 17th – Thu 22nd JAN 2026
By: elbee94 Date: January 18, 2026, 7:17 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Bristol Rovers (First Team) v Colchester United FC (First Team)
Football League 2
Referee: Toner, Ben
Assistant Referee: Cooper, Ian
Assistant Referee: Smith, Matthew
Fourth Official: Dowle, Kirsty
I made a comment recently about Scott Oldham, who from other
posters and the appointments he receives, seems to be a well
regarded official - but i’ve never seen the best of him and he
always provides an average at best performance. I would say
exactly the same about Ben Toner, who I thought was below par
yesterday.
I do think Ben’s style of refereeing is really good - he always
looks very calm and very in control, a great balance to find.
His communication seems strong and it’s easy to work out his
thinking behind his decisions, as he’ll often accompany this
with a gesture. Both his assistants seemed to be fine, but I
didn’t have a good seat to judge those decisions very well.
Kirsty Dowle had a tough gig dealing with an unhappy home bench
and unsurprisingly called Ben over to caution Steve Evans in the
first half.
However, his fouls given or not given yesterday, I thought was
quite far from the standard i’d expect. It was hard to know what
his tolerance level was, as it seemed to fluctuate throughout
the match and I was never really confident in what decision he
was going to make. His decision to book or not book someone was
worse - using the precedents he set, that game could have ended
with 2 or 12 bookings. It wasn’t the best quality game and was
quite scrappy, so it wasn’t the easiest to manage in terms of
discipline, but I expect a referee of Ben’s reputation to do
better.
Whilst my Colchester side probably got more of the decisions
from Ben than the home team, I don’t think it was very far
imbalanced and while the home crowd and dugout were unhappy with
Ben at half time and full time, they can’t blame him for their
team’s toothless display, as Colchester deserved the win with a
strong second half and a peach of a goal to win it.
*****************************************************
DIR Next Page