[choirboy]

Originally Posted by cashman

to be sure there was 2 defo penalties in box at the same time at opposite ends, dont care what people say but i say its near impossible to miss the both but yon excuse for a ref did.

The clear MAN OF THE MATCH was the REFEREE!...........
Simply because he was so AWFUL!

The penalty shout when Hughes was pushed occurred just 5 yards in front of us as we were stood at the front rail in the Clayton End in line with edge of the six yard box! Hughes was running round a defender and would have had a shot from four yards at goal.....a clearer scoring chance you will never ever see.....Hughes was pushed form the side and behind and fell forward and sideways beyond the ball.......but the referee chose not to see it! The referee was about 10 to 12 yards away and he saw the incident as he was in my line of vision too!
Now, if it is deemed by the referee not be a penalty..........ie. not a foul. Then he must be of the opinion that Hughes 'dived'. So the question is, why did the referee not book Hughes for simulation?
Clearly Hughes had a better chance of scoring from four yards than we would from a penalty at twelve yards so exactly why would Hughes 'dive'.....?
Just another example of rank bad refereeing.
I thought that Oxford were the best organised team that I have seen Stanley play so far this season. They were also a superb passing team. However, they were quite physical but in a clever way. They were quite devious rather than dirty in challenges, just leaning in and easing our boys off the ball with slight pushes timed to perfection in order to put off their opponents. The referee was so inept he did not read this at all and so the players took more and more liberties as the match continued. After the referee had 'lost' the match he finished up giving out eight, (I think it was...?) yellow cards!
Opoku was lucky to stay on the field and because he over reacted he should have got a red card. The Oxford player should have a got a red card too. Opoku had been challenged like that three times in the previous ten minutes on the touch line and he had clearly had enough!
The pleasing element of the match for me was the way Stanley sustained their spirit and showed total belief in their ability to get back into the match.
In the end we could have had three points. Having equalised so late on though it almost felt like a victory!
ON STANLEY ON
KEEP THE FAITH