Ref Watch Top officials at Crawley .... or are they ?

[Mick]

The officials as appointed and still publicised are Lee Probert, with Darren Cann and Peter Kirkup on the lines and Peter Walton as 4th official.

Lee Probert is a very decent official but we won't be seeing him as he's doing a Europa Cup game in Cyprus on Thursday.

Instead I expect that the appointment will go to Peter Walton from Northamptonshire, fresh from (mis)handling the Newcastle v Arsenal disgace. That match had it all diving, simulating injury, petulant players and poor officials; it just lacked any football.

He was a regular both at Roots Hall and for Southend away games until he became a "star" but obviously we haven't seen anything of him for years. Aged 51 he is on borrowed time and has been retained on the SG list through the anti age discrimination legislation and friends in high places, allegedly. Last season he forgot his cards in one match and showed an imaginary yellow card!

The excellent Darren Cann (World Cup Final lino) will probaly retain his place on the line with Bill Smallwood from Cheshire, yes Cheshire!, taking over from Kirkup. Kevin Wright a Football League referee from Cambridgeshire will be drafted in as 4th official to hold up the numbers board and supply Mr Walton with anything he's forgotten.

Any or all of this might change.

 

[Magnum PI]

Why on earth do we have the World Cup Linesman in League 2?

 

[Alex]

Why on earth do we have the World Cup Linesman in League 2?

As long as they are not Uraguayan

 

[Mick]

The officials as appointed and still publicised are Lee Probert, with Darren Cann and Peter Kirkup on the lines and Peter Walton as 4th official.

Lee Probert is a very decent official but we won't be seeing him as he's doing a Europa Cup game in Cyprus on Thursday.

Instead I expect that the appointment will go to Peter Walton from Northamptonshire, fresh from (mis)handling the Newcastle v Arsenal disgace. That match had it all diving, simulating injury, petulant players and poor officials; it just lacked any football.

He was a regular both at Roots Hall and for Southend away games until he became a "star" but obviously we haven't seen anything of him for years. Aged 51 he is on borrowed time and has been retained on the SG list through the anti age discrimination legislation and friends in high places, allegedly. Last season he forgot his cards in one match and showed an imaginary yellow card!

The excellent Darren Cann (World Cup Final lino) will probaly retain his place on the line with Bill Smallwood from Cheshire, yes Cheshire!, taking over from Kirkup. Kevin Wright a Football League referee from Cambridgeshire will be drafted in as 4th official to hold up the numbers board and supply Mr Walton with anything he's forgotten.

Any or all of this might change.

No changes; tonight's officials are as above.

 

[BILLERICAY BLUE]

So is it Lee Probert or Peter Walton?

 

[North Wales Shrimper]

Peter Walton as per the Football League website

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Dunno about you, Mick, but I thought the officials last night were absolutely top notch. As good as I remember seeing at our level.

The ref played advantage extremely well (but still remembered to come back with bookings where the foul was particularly bad), got pretty much all the key decisions right, not too card-happy, and the game flowed extremely well. They essentially performed the classic ref sleight-of-hand - which is that, for large phases of the game, you simply didn't notice the officials (which, to my mind, is exactly as it should be). Best performers on the park last night, I reckon.

 

[Magnum PI]

I thought the linesmen did well but Walton was very inconsistent.. every time we jumped for a ball they penalised us, everytime Barnett assaulted one of our centre halves he waved play on..

 

[spoons]

Premier referees always spoil games in the lower leagues.
The league obviously thought this game needed a top referee, but the premier refs like to make themselves centres of attention To be fair, the officials were apparently good last night.
Southend are not a disciplined side, hence 5 bookings.

 

[Fish]

Yup, couldn't argue with the officials and the reffing style was top notch last night.

I was particularly impressed with the yellow he showed for the foul on Hall. He played the advantage, we nearly got a great chance out of it, but once the ball had gone off for a goal kick he casually sidled up to the Crawley player, pointed up the pitch to where the foul had been and held up the card. Very relaxed, no fuss, point made, no time stopped.

Superb, text book watch and learn stuff.

 

[Gremlin]

I thought the linesmen did well but Walton was very inconsistent.. every time we jumped for a ball they penalised us, everytime Barnett assaulted one of our centre halves he waved play on..

Sounds like consistency to me.

 

[Dorsetshrimper]

May I suggest that the Crawley players were craftier that us in the art of gamesmanship. We had a tendency to dive in as they got near our box gave away a freekick and got booked. They were just highly skilled at taking an unfair advantage with subtle nudges etc.

They were also just a little quicker than us. The number of times they blocked our attempted pass or cross. This probably just added to our players frustrations that made it all the more likely to get a booking through rash challenges.

Finally, they were more skilled at making the most of any fouls we committed; several players went down in a very convincing manner.

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Finally, they were more skilled at making the most of any fouls we committed; several players went down in a very convincing manner.

I'm not sure I agree about that. Harris went down clutching his face like the proverbial sack of spuds in the first half, after a bit of jostling on the edge of the area with a Crawley player; and then was up quicker than Lazarus when he realised the ref wasn't interested. I was slightly shocked, tbh - it's not often you see a Southend player so skilled in the dark arts of simulation / over-dramatisation. Grant occasionally makes a meal of a challenge against him as well.

 

[Grayson]

Grant is the best I've seen in the league at attracting and making the most of fouls.

 

[Mick]

Finally, they were more skilled at making the most of any fouls we committed; several players went down in a very convincing manner.

There is very little the Crawley players (or anyone else for that matter) could teach Grant about winning freekicks.

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Mick - did you see the game, and if so, what did you make of the officials?

 

[Mick]

Mick - did you see the game, and if so, what did you make of the officials?

No Matt, I wasn't at the game. His refereeing is normally okay as long as he doesn't have any big decisions to make !

 

[Maldon Blues]

I'm not sure I agree about that. Harris went down clutching his face like the proverbial sack of spuds in the first half, after a bit of jostling on the edge of the area with a Crawley player; and then was up quicker than Lazarus when he realised the ref wasn't interested. I was slightly shocked, tbh - it's not often you see a Southend player so skilled in the dark arts of simulation / over-dramatisation. Grant occasionally makes a meal of a challenge against him as well.

Matt, about a minute later Harris had to go off briefly to have treatment on a bloodied nose he recieved in that collision. He was attending to his nose with a sponge for the rest of the first half.