Sunday 13th December, 2009last year, mid-December
As Seen On TV
Bradford City 2 Rotherham United 4 At Valley Parade in League Two, 2009/2010
I’ve got a bad throat. That means I can’t shout at the referee, which would normally take all the fun out of going to a football match. But there’s more than one way to skin a cat.
In a game where six goals were scored by five different players, it may seem churlish to spend much time discussing one man, even when that one man comes straight to Valley Parade from the Premier League. So, for a while I shall leave all mention of the referee. But you have been warned.
City were forced into one change from last week, with Steve Williams failing a fitness test, Simon Ramsden moving to centre back and Jonathan Bateson coming in at right back. What looked like a fairly predictable 4-4-2 showed rather more fluidity than might have been expected, albeit frequently at the cost of depriving the team of any width.
Simon Eastwood had a mixed game. As early as the fifth minute he was saving with his legs to send a shot over the bar and two or three other excellent first half stops kept City in touch. The benefit of one of those saves was, however, very short-lived once Kevin Ellison put home the rebound for Rotherham’s equaliser. Lee Bullock had reacted first to an earlier rebound off a Simon Whaley free kick – of which more in a moment – to give City an early lead. But another Ellison goal following some neat, but defendable, build-up play saw the visitors go in at half-time with a 2-1 lead.
Whatever the team talk had been, Luke O’Brien’s surging run and Michael Flynn’s crashing shot in the first minute of the second half looked to have set up an exhilarating pre-Christmas cracker. Andy Warrington in the visitors’ goal (who is nowhere near the superannuable age he may seem) had had little to trouble him in the first half. Now he had to make one save at the foot of his near post to beat out an Evans pile driver; another to tip over Bullock’s shot after an Evans run and cross; and a third, toward the latter stages, when a 30 yard thunderbolt from James O’Brien looked a certain goal.
Meanwhile, at the other end, the now largely unemployed Simon Eastwood was tasked by nothing worse than the occasional back pass to his left foot. That is until the 78th minute when he was beaten by a quickly taken Roberts free kick from just over the half-way line. The lob went over him as he scrambled back to his line, entering the net via the cross bar to put the visitors 3-2 in front. Their fourth goal, two minutes from the end, was a tap in for Drewe Broughton, which brings me back to the start of the game and all the bits I’ve so far missed out – each and every one of them featuring Lee Probert, our star visitor from the Premier League.
Only a few weeks ago everyone at Valley Parade was bemoaning the woeful performance of the referee against Accrington, one Mr Cook. Bad as his display was, City still had only themselves to blame for not sending Stanley home empty handed. Mr Probert showed how it should be done. He’s a Premier League ref and they do things a little differently. They’re on first name or even nickname terms with the players; they know who has a reputation for diving and who pulls shirts all the time; and they are more likely to play the advantage rule, as Mr P did, to his credit, several times.
However, they also like to talk – and talk and talk and talk. Mr Probert illustrated this perfectly in the first five minutes. He adjudged, quite correctly that the aforementioned Drewe Broughton had struck Simon Ramsden with his elbow. Broughton must have considered himself well and truly told off, judging by the length of the lecture. The rest of us judged him extremely fortune not to be shown a card of either colour, despite the early stage of the game. (What difference, by the way, does it make if you commit a bookable offence five or thirty-five minutes into a game? I bet Mr Probert can answer that one.)
Broughton, however, had clearly not been sufficiently well told off, because in the ninth minute he swapped defenders and Matt Clarke felt the power of his elbow. This time even Mr Probert had to produce a yellow card and leave us wondering what might have happened if he had done the job right four minutes earlier. Playing with ten men after nine minutes tends to have its effect on the game.
But within four more minutes Mr Probert set an entirely different standard for what constitutes a bookable offence. Lee Bullock hung a leg out just outside the centre circle. It wasn’t a dangerous tackle and it was his first foul. Perhaps 13 minutes into a game is acceptable for a yellow card to be produced for an innocuous offence. Bullock shrugged his shoulders at the waving referee, while others tried in vain to point to the disparity with the much more serious and dangerous offence which had previously resulted in a telling off.
But, having set the 13 minute standard for innocuous fouls in midfield, Mr P had changed his mind by the 17th minute. Michael Boulding, with his back to goal and the ball at his feet, attempted to turn Pablo Mills. Mr Mills is not noted for his gentility, as the City physio will be able to confirm when Boulding’s injury has been fully assessed. For hacking Boulding to the floor from behind, a few yards outside his own penalty area, Mills’ punishment was a free kick. Not a card; not a lecture of even the shortest duration; not even a firm stare from the ref. It could, in fact, be argued that Mills won his side a distinct advantage for the rest of the game, given that Boulding remained on the pitch for just three more minutes. The standard had changed back again. The only justice was that this free kick gave City the lead.
Lectures, bookings, goals and other stoppages produced just two minutes of added time, but that was enough to see Simon Ramsden flattened again after yet another leap from Broughton. Neither Mr Probert nor his fourth official, who must have been within a very few yards of the incident, saw anything wrong and play was restarted with a throw in, but only after Stuart McCall came on to the pitch and Ronnie Moore troubled the referee with a few words of his own.
Just five minutes into the second half, Gareth Evans was away down the right flank, outpacing Pablo Mills with some ease until, just in front of the assistant referee, Mills took both his legs, ensuring that the threatening run came to an abrupt and illegal end. So, for his second blatant offence of the afternoon, each depriving a striker of a run on goal, Mills had to be punished. And aren’t Mr Probert’s talking-to’s severe? You just ask Mills, because that’s exactly what he got. In another part of the pitch Lee Bullock must surely have been wondering what he had done wrong.
Within five minutes of that Mills lecture, Michael Flynn was late with a sliding tackle and there was a holding of breath from the City faithful. Anything might be about to happen to Flynny, but the actual result, a yellow card, while entirely correct, came as a great relief.
Which brings us back to that third goal from half-way and another difference between League Two and Premier League officials. We are used to ‘the correct blade of grass’ syndrome with our refs; perhaps we should watch more TV to spot how far away from the foul you can take the free kick if you have a Premier League ref. This one was so far away that it brought Stuart McCall on to the pitch again, this time without the excuse of an injured player.
A pretty obvious hand ball, so clear that even the handler, Nicky Law, almost gave himself up, produced nothing and Michael Flynn being pulled back brought only a theatrical wave of the arms from Mr P. Two very decent penalty claims, either of which could have changed the course of the game, were not seen. The additional five minutes, which became six, brought another booking. Matt Clarke must have spoken out of turn, unless, of course, Mr Probert had by now reverted to the Lee Bullock standard for yellow cards.
The game ended in stunned silence from the home crowd. City had not deserved to lose and this time the standard of refereeing really had had a major impact, many times over, on the outcome of the game. I almost (but not quite) could wish for the return of Mr Singh.
But I should end on a positive. There were some splendid displays in claret, with Bullock, Flynn and Ramsden to the fore, but none more so than the man who never missed a header all day and made sure his clearances were definitively cleared. He has his detractors and is not the most cultured of players, but Matt Clarke deserved any Man of the Match award. Not that I heard who was actually given it, so furious was I with our visitor from on high.
I did a stint as a referee so I have a lot of sympathy with some of the difficulties they have in getting decisions correct for a full 90 mins. I have to say though that Mr Probert has left me totally unable to understand the reasoning behind such inconsistancy in his decisions to caution or not to caution players committing offences during the game against Rotherham. Baffling to those of us who know the difficulties of the job from first-hand experience, and also damaging to the game as a whole when one team is allowed to blatently get away without receiving the correct level of punishment and gain advantage from that.(by the way, when is that stupid rule that says you have to leave the field of play after receiving treatment -even when you have been injured after a foul against you- going to be changed. WHY should Clarke have been forced to leave the field after being almost decapitated by Broughton?)
You are right to point out the performance of Matt Clarke, the lad deserves some positive recognition -goodness knows he’s suffered enough on the negative side- after having two very good performances in our last two games.
A well presented and easy to follow article Paul.
Yes, a truly disappointing perfomance from the ref. A better one from City. I think the fact that McCall wasn’t sent to the stands for coming onto the pitch, and his many discussions with the 4th official seems to point that the ref in this instance knew he was losing it. The old balancing act that refs seem to employt when they realise they’ve got things wrong. Oh well. If we can, nay DO, play as well as that for the rest of the season, I think we might just do ok. It is such a shame that we’ll never get any justification of his actions, like they do in the Premiership, or in the same way that any one of our players have to step up when they’ve got it wrong.
Agree with everything stated.
Matt Clarke was a rock at the back, standing up to the ‘physical’ approach of Mr Broughton.
Ref stood out for all the wrong reasons.
Whatever the reasons yesterday, the main fact now is that City have just 3 home wins all season, are trailing the play off contenders and seemingly unable to beat the top teams bar Chesterfield – mid table seems to be where we deserve to be.
I can only see the JPT as a source of extra income for the club this season, and in that we have to get past League 1 Carlisle United and then onto what should be two games against our near neighbours Leeds United (they can’t lose to Accy surely!).
Accy and Morecambe now stand above us in the table, Burton Albion thumped in 6 goals against Aldershot and Torquay turned over Darlington 5-0, we seem to be now in the phase of a set of games that could see a few changes at VP.
Interesting the managers at the club come and managers at the club go but a poor home record remains (save the last two seasons, curious) leading one to look at the constants in this situation. I’m recalling Dave Pendleton’s article in The City Gent.
Lee Probert is the same ref who failed to send Hugo Rodellega off in the Wigan v Birmingham game the other week when he elbowed Roger Johnson in the face.
Probert gave Rodellega a yellow card which, as we know, means that no further action can be taken in regard to the incident.
When a referee makes a mistake in a Premier League match, again as we know, his superiors tend to “punish” him by inflicting him on some poor, unsuspecting, lower league club for a week.
We can only hope that this is the case and there was an assessor in the crowd watching him in which case even though he will never have to justify his actions to the public he will at least have to justify them to his bosses.
That’s no comfort to the Bantams, of course, and no comfort at all to the poor clubs who have to suffer him next week when they decide his “punishment” for this week will be an extension to his stay in the lower divisions.
No comfort either to the defender who loses an eye to an elbow from the likes of Broughton because Lee Probert will not apply the rules correctly.
Have just watched the highlights of the game on the club website and the replay of the Broughton – Ramsden elbowing incident seems to confirm what a friend sat behind the dug out saw.
On this occasion, Broughton didn’t lead with his elbows and Ramsden appears to be playacting (perhaps understandable given the referee’s laissez faire attitude to the previous elbowing incidents). Stuart’s response after walking across to Ramsden to check how he was seems to confirm the theory – he walks back to the dugout and doesn’t say a word to the referee or fourth official.
I’ve got to hand it to Ronny Moore. His lad spends all afternoon smacking our defenders in the face and a couple of words from him and suddenly our fans are pointing the finger at our players!
I still have the stunned feeling of seeing that goal creep in over the goalie. as in life, it seems, in football you don’t always get what you deserve. I was thrilled by our performance after half time. i was disgusted by their team of thugs but it worked, didn’t it? What happens to our season depends on how we react to losses like this – blame the ref (again) or make sure we react like we did in the first part of the second half, by working harder, not giving up, being better, or like the scorer of their 3rd goal, smarter. We can still go up, we must keep positive.
This was typed thru’ gritted teeth.
I now really hate rotherham utd,that bald bastard,the thug centre forward,the thug centre half,that lanky grey goalie, but at least Nicky Law had the decency to play shite.
Lets hope it “all evens out over the season”
An excellent article and for myself your view was very similar to my own, very early on I commented about how inconsistent he was, by the end I was utterly furious. I can take defeat by the way we were dispatched by Rochdale squarely on the chin but yesterdays loss leaves a sour taste. I felt sorry for McCall, so did others sat around me and as for Ellison (remember him at Chester last season continually bleating and moaning) I detest him but have sneaky suspicion that were he to wear claret and amber he would be well received.
Lets now hope for a win at Carlisle and start to turn things around.
City – play like that again and we will win more than we will lose. Good performance and some good solid efforts across the field.
Clarke was outstanding at the back.
I hope the FA and Referees association view this gmae and assess the referee accordingly. It truely was a shocking display.
I note that Mr Probert is on the ask the ref section of refworld.com this week.
I have registered with the site and asked him a question regarding consistency, and how the lack of it really pees off fans.
Perhaps others might be encouraged to ask hiom a question relating to his abject performance.
I agree with everything in the article, but we shouldn’t let justifiable anger at the ref’s inconsistency blind us to the fact that we conceded some bad goals and that Rotherham spent large parts of the first half slicing through our defence as if it wasn’t there. Time and time again, they got in behind and forced our defenders to turn and chase back. It isn’t the first time this season I’ve seen Simon Eastwood save well only for someone following up to knock in the rebound. Ellison’s second goal was also an easy finish, completely unchallenged. The fact that the free kick was taken at least ten yards from where the foul took place will not spare Simon Eastwood any embarrassment at being beaten from 45 yards or the rest of the team that no one stood over the ball to prevent a quick free kick. In short, the team needs to defend better and be more streetwise. The second half performance was great, but if we continue to concede bad goals then we will need great second half performances every week.
The problem with the ten/fifteen yards away thing is the arguments against it sound petty. When one accepts that Probert has made a mistake – and no where in the rules of football does it say a freekick outside the box can be taken from anywhere other than the location of the foul (and some would say it was not a trip, it was obstruction ergo an indirect free kick) so the players have a right to expect that it is taken from around the same position. No one wants blade of grass accurate but the players can expect that the accuracy is better than on Saturday. After all it was the length of a penalty kick away.
So accepting the mistake from Probert Eastwood looked a fool because the ball went over his head but until the ball is in the area of the foul why should he be ready? There is no need for City to stand a man over the ball because it is unthinkable that the free kick will be taken from that position. The second goal was soft, the third was no more City’s fault that Argentina’s first in 1986 was England’s.
In my humble opinion that is.
I take your point but comparing it to the “Hand of God” is stretching it a bit. But to carry on the comparison, I still believe that the taller Shilton should have been able to outjump the much shorter Maradona.
Surely if there’s one thing to learn from the Rochdale and Rotherham games it’s that we can’t rely on referees to be consistent or indeed right. However, they are always the ref. You play to the whistle.
None of which makes Probert right or any of us any less angry. But it’s still a goal.
I was going to compare it to this (although it was a little too obscure but here it goes).
A few months ago a roundabout near Forster Square station had traffic lights cutting down one of the lanes of the one of the exits so when approaching from the VP side the first exit was only half open the second open and the third – which went to the station and was most used – was open. Arriving to get to the station from the VP side one had to basically (and through traffic light control) drive in the wrong lane pulling out and going round the roundabout as normal. This caused you to be unsighted a little on the right but it was a roundabout so that did not matter.
However some “smart” people decided that rather than go all the way around the roundabout they would go right and exit down the right exit without going round which means that if you were driving correctly you had a very real chance of having someone driving the wrong way around a roundabout – that you could hardly see – heading for the same exit you were committed to.
Now I don’t drive so my concern in this was not getting the passenger door side whelped in but the driver – Our Kid – pointed out that he had no alternative than to do as he did – go around the roundabout – despite the fact that someone might slew into us from the side because driving – as with many things – is a trust that other people will obey the same rules as you. You don’t really check for something going the wrong way around a roundabout because you have a trust that no one will do that (because it is a cussing stupid) and because if you spent all your time watching for cars going in the wrong direction towards you then you would be distracted from doing the driving bit of driving. It would be like keeping your eyes fixed on very pedestrian you passed just in case one ran out into the road for no reason – one just has to take it that some things don’t happen.
What I’m saying is that that free kick was the same. Eastwood does not have to be ready, the defence do not have to defend it because they should be able to trust Lee Probert to not let someone coming driving down the wrong side of the road at them. A manager can talk about defending and focus all week but should he have to tell his players to look out just in case the Referee ad hocly decides one team can play by different rules? Is that not telling the drive to look out for cars coming the wrong way?
I think you get my point – although it is laboured.
It has to be said though that City’s problem with goal three was that we played to the whistle and did not anticipate the fact that the Referee would allow them not to. It is still a goal for sure but there is no way to defend against it because you have to prepare your players for what happens 99.9% of the time and not the 0.1% which is why Shilton has to be on his line to protect against the shot knowing that he can clean out the box if the ball comes in (unless someone cheats)
To paraphrase Socrates (the Greek, not the Brazilian) “All I know is that Referees know nothing.”
The FA and Referees Association had this guy well and truly in their sights, why do you think we got him. This is the bloke that sent a guy off in the Premier League for getting punched on the back of the head.
I think that the standard of refs/linesmen we have been getting has been progressively worse through the season, to have my thoughts compounded by this idiot, supposed Prem standard, beggars belief.
In response to Tom,
“it’s that we can’t rely on referees to be consistent or indeed right. However, they are always the ref. You play to the whistle.”
This is exactly the point. We didnt rely on Mr Probert being consistent or right. We attacked them in a way we thought would win us the game. What happened was the Rotherham goalie made some outstanding saves, and then at a crucial point in the match, the referee made a mistake which made us chase the game.
This wasnt City relying on him to do anything. But ultimately its his job. If I decided not to do part of my job at work Id expect to be disciplined for it. So the same should occur for Mr Probert.
Now I cant agree that all 4 goals were the case of poor defending. Maybe you can justify the first (Ellison should have been tracked) and the second went through Eastwoods legs. But the third and forth goal were not down to defensive issues, but poor referee decisions. Andy Warrington was fouled in the eyes of the ref at a corner, and within a minute, Eastwood was also fouled in the same way. The latter got no free kick awarded as the former did.
You cant therefore say that City are totally at fault for all the goals. I agree, defensively we are not as strong as we could be, but can you argue against Clarke for man of the match (you could try but I think you will find many who disagree).
So although I take what you say, there will be circumstances where this happens, and we have the right to be aggrieved. You are making it out like its an injustice that will happen and we should take it on the chin! Well I for one cant – one man cost us any points on Saturday. Defending contributed for a percentage of the goals on Saturday, the referee directly affected the others.
I can take games where we get played off the park (Rochdale) or times when we dont put teams away (Accrington etc) and in those cases, the players, manager and coaches have to stand up and take the brunt of the criticism. But when we are undone by a poor referee and his inability to make the right decision, especially when our lads have given there all, we have the right to feel irritated and cheated out of points.
You and me both Tim. That bald bastard has history with us, last season I think he was with Chester, he stayed down in our box feining a head injury to get play stopped when we had a 3 on 2 break away going. As the ref bought it he had to stop the game – leaving baldy to wink at the crowd – the bastard!
I’m becoming increasingly fed up with paying my money to watch games refereed by officials so one-sided you have to wonder whether they are cheating. I said as much in an email to the football league a couple of seasons ago only to be told that referees don’t cheat and they would take my complaint further if I resubmitted it with no reference to cheating. If they don’t cheat, they must just be plain shit at their jobs. It really is getting beyond a joke.
I think as supporters we should bombard the football league with complaints about each and every substandard ref – they are sure to get the message sooner or later, aren’t they? I can supply an email address at the FL if anyone is interested.