what is the point

forevertufc, yes the goal should have stood and the lineman got it very badly wrong, it happens and when I made a thread about using video evidence, I was shot down in flames.

So unless that is a route we do go down mistakes will always be made, we have had goals given that were clearly off-side in the past, its just what happens, but as we all know, we let the other two goals in and can't complain about the end result really.

Have to disagree Dave.

Yes, we gave away TWO bad goals.... but we scored FOUR good goals ... but ended up drawing 3-3 because of two very poor decisions by the officials.

Unfortunately it wasnt just those two key decisions they got wrong either as they were inept all night and the referee was paricularly weak and ineffective in dealing with the keepers blatant timewasting too.

There is no way that we didnt deserve to win that game last night, in my opinion.

crispygull, as I said things like this happen and we have won games we never deserved to win, I fully agree the ref and lineman were very poor, but as Andy said he was poor for both sides.
It worked out we lost a game because a good goal was disallowed, but no one can say we would have won if it had been given.Simply because FGR would then have had to come out and attack more, they could have got the goal back, or we could have scored again.

The point I'm making is the game would not have been the same and the result may well have been as well, we only drew and we can keep going on about a goal that should have stood, it won't change the result and we will still only get the one point.

Playing at home against a club near the bottom, we should have won with ease, we did not and that is down to the players, its no good keep crying over split milk.

By weaving together the subject of this and one other thread, one might say that it was the brainless spotty teenagers singing 'the lino is a CNUT' that led quite directly to his poor officiating and ultimately THEY cost us the win!

Having stood near them last night, I somehow doubt they could all weave 2 thoughts together though, and I'm sure they wouldn't understand our deepening frustrations ....

Thanks that was the game I was thinking about.

You can't get to the end of a game and say it this goal had been given or that goal had been given we would have won. Yes if you add Benyons goal to the other ones we scored it would add up to four, one more that FGR scored, but you can't do that,because if the Benyon goal had been give, then Christies goal would not have happened.

When Benyon got flagged off-side, the FGR took the free kick and as a result of all the movements of the players, the tackles and passes etc, the ball in the end got to Christie in the box who scored.

Now if Benyons goal had been given the ball would have gone back to centre circle, all the players would have been in their own half's and the whole sequence of events on the pitch would have been completely different, all the play before Christies goal would not have taken place, so the score still could have only ended up at three all.

Yes I agree Benyon's goal should have stood and the linesman got it so badly wrong, but by it not been given does not mean we would have won, if it had been and we could have even gone on and lost the game, we will never know.

And, just like the game itself, refereeing works on a pyramid basis. Apparently there are 26,000 referees in this country graded at different levels.

I've just been looking at the National List of referees and assistant referees which you'll find in the Sky Sports yearbook as well as at www.football-league.co.uk/page/ListofOfficials/0,,10794~1365361,00.html .

As I understand it, the 75-80 names on the referee's list are those qualified to ref Premiership and Football League games. With up to 46 fixtures at a time (staggered kick-offs notwithstanding) my maths suggests they each referee at that standard on over half the available occasions.

The list of assistant referees, as you would expect, is far longer. I reckon there must be at least 200 names on this list. I think I am right in saying these officials run the line (or act as 4th official) in the Premier League and Football League as well as being the referees in the BSP and various other leagues (which, I believe, includes the Combination and other reserve leagues).

If you do the sums up to 138 (3x46) could be involved, at any one time, in running the line (or being 4th official) in games above the BSP. With only a maximum of 12 BSP refereeing appointments at any one time, I guess the others are in-the-middle in our league's feeder divisions. I suppose this is the only way the system can work - and is tried and tested - but it does create an oddity in that referees in this league probably don't do too many BSP games in a season (but some do more than others, surely?). You can check this by clicking on to the ref's name at www.soccerbase.com. Maybe my maths is faulty but it woud be interesting to see an official's pattern of appointments during the season. Perhaps someone better-informed can offer further enlightenment?