FC: Torquay v Barnet 3pm - 6 December 2014

Nice one Simon, would be a good bit of kudos!

Come on you yellows.......si

Barnet down to 10 men......come on you yellows......si

Hey Si stop talking to yourself. We've got out of bigger messes than this. Can't think how .... but we have!

UGLY - UGLY - UGLY and that wasn't just Akinde!
Ugly game, Ugly officials, ugly football which sadly was not the main talking point.
Possibly the worst refereeing display I have ever witnessed in all my years as a supporter and that is no exaggeration. I hope we have some good video of he Downes sending off because I saw nothing other than the usual bumping and barging that usually goes on between attacker and defender. It was of course inevitable that referee Brett Huxtable would even things up after harshly perhaps sending of N'Gala for a foul on Bowman a little earlier. In fact I turned to my mate and said that he is bound to even this up after all the Barnet protests and was proved correct. From the first few minutes when challenges were going in, particularly aerial ones , obvious fouls were being alarmingly unpunished you just knew that things were going to deteriorate and players would start to lose patience and their heads.
Before the Downes incident.
Rice should have seen red for an awful scything challenge on Akinde after he was put through out wide.
Later in the game Akinde should have been shown red for a blatant elbow in the face on Pearce.
Mac Donald should have also been sent off for an awful challenge on Nurse that left him hardly able to walk and all this because the referee was unfit to officiate at any level let alone Conference level. What happened out there today was a total disgrace soley because the referee and oficials didn't take control early in the game, made some very strange decisions that enraged both sets of players and contributed to to how the game degenerated into a kicking match and at one point when all the players were wound up and running on adrenalin you just wondered what the next bizarre decision was going to come next or if any player was going get seriously injured.
It was that bad.
Enoug of that now. This was game i feared beforehand where all our failings and shortcomings were going to be exposed and so it proved. Despite some early chances we were undone and opened up by Vihete on fifteen minutes when he slipped through and fired an unstoppable shot past Rice high into the top corner - so much time to pick his spot though I expect the usual; suspects to blame our keeper. The next twenty ods so minutes were a struggle wher ewe failed to hold or pass the ball and were outnumbered in midfield time after time unable to get any ssort of hold on the game. This was interspersed with the sendings off of N'Gala and eventually Downes who also by his supposed actions and Akinde rolling around in the penalty box like hed been shot and the awarded penalty easily converted by the now sprightly Aknde! 0-2 and in effect the end of our afternoon. The second period Barnet surprisingly sat deeper as we managed to gain a foothold in the game with MacDonald Pearce and Berry playing as a back three and Ives pushed into a more forward role. It was having the effect of plenty of possesion with very little cutting edge and I dont thingk Barnet had one effort on goal in the second period but then again we rarely looked like scoring until tired legs in the Barnet back line and a bit of panic allowed Richards to unleash a shot high and past Stack in the Barnet goal. The next and final schoolgirl deccisson then was made not to send off the keeper when he blatently barged Yeoman into the goal post with such forvce I wondered if he was going to get up. A definate sending off that only received a yellow. His time wasting at goal kicks were also going unpunished - swapping sides on many ocassions to re-start that should have picked up a booking as Rice did last week.
Barnet didnt really look like the world beaters their position in the table would have you think they just the basics better than us on the day - pressed us all over the pitch first half and then soaked up the pressure in the second with good effect.
Drama again at Plainmoor but sadly for all the wrong reasons and I personally never want to see this referee ever again darken the door of our club.

You sum it up well Pete, who actually assesses these officials and deems them fit for purpose? We did not lose today because of the ref but by god he certainly did not help. So frustrating that they seem untouchable, make things up as they go along and then are seemingly unaccountable for their decisions that spoil the game!!
On to Halifax next, another tough game. This season has been so topsy turvy so far Lord knows what kind of performance we will produce - world beaters or Sunday league?? Keeps it interesting though!