FL2: Torquay United v Aldershot 29th Sept 2009

Hi Pete, yes I love alpinejoes report, he is turning out to be a comical genius in his posts, I have emailed Darryl to ask if he has just forgotten to send us some pictures for the match day thread, all being well he will send some and then I will put them up.

Dave

Not so sure about both decisions shown in slo-mo. The penalty given to Aldershot seems very harsh and I not sure if Sills touched it with his arm or his chest.

His second yellow, well he could have fallen a bit more 'normal' in my opinion. He doesn't go down right away and goes down with both hands up in the air. On the other hand, contact is contact and thus a penalty.

This is my first post this season. I decided to be fair to Buckle & the players by not making the mistake I did at the start of last season when I politely suggested that Mr. Buckle should look for work elsewhere! following that disastrous early run. Mind you, if we hadn't played so well Tues night this might have been a bit different! I actually thought we were magnificent in view of the trials and tribulations caused by Mr. Hill. I agree with most of the comments about the actual game, however I have a couple of queries about the actions of the ref.

Firstly, why did he spend a considerable amount of time before kick-off discussing something with the Shots goalie and one or two other of their players while the captains were waiting at the centre to toss up? Where they asking for protection for the goalie because of that thug Sills? Who knows.

During the first half he also had a long discussion with some defenders after it appeared that they had accused Sills of elbowing one of their centre backs. (As if he would!).

It seemed to me that Charles in particular (what a nasty piece he is) and some others were intent on trying to get Sills sent off. I have witnesses to this(!) but at half-time I said to my mates that I wouldn't be surprised if Sills was sent off! The ref seemed to have it in for Sills right from the start, although he didn't book him until that gentle shoulder on their goalie. The booking only resulted because Charles decide to get involved and make it look worse than it really was. If my memory serves me right ( and at my age it sometimes lets me down!) I seem to remember the ref giving Sills a good talking too in the first half as well.

There are 2 current Sunday League refs and one retired, who is now an assessor, (2 on Devon F A Committee) in the group I stand with and they all agreed this was the worst ref we have seen at Plainmoor for a considerable time. One said he was actually going to write to the FA, although I don't suppose that will do the slightest good if he does.

Well, it's all history now, and on to the next game.