Rovers v Oldham- 30/08/14- James Linington

[The Red Baron]

Doncaster Rovers FC (First Team) v Oldham Athletic FC (First Team)
Football League 1
Referee: Harrington, Tony (replaced by James Linington)
Assistant Referee: Law, Geoffrey
Assistant Referee: Rashid, Lisa
Fourth Official: Johnson, Ryan

[Dutch Uncle]

I think this was the ref who turned the game by giving a total 'phantom' penalty at Burnley last year - anyone want to comment on yesterday's penalty decision?

[Filo]

The Pen wasn't easy to see with it being up the North end of the Stadium, but I thought that Luke got the ball, the female lino appeared to be miles behind play.

The West stand Lino obviously didn't know the offside rule either, he missed at least four blatent offsides, they weren't even close!

[The Red Baron]

According to the teamsheet the referee was James Linington. He struck me as being a long way from the play and I think he guessed on both penalty decisions- Tyson's in the first half and the one he gave in the second. For me, McCullough played the ball and they were the sort of decisions where you gave neither or both.

Having said that, once he'd given the pen I was surprised, to say the least, that he didn't send McCullough off.

Another one who gave all the 50-50s to the opposing side- rather like the Port Vale referee.

Sitting where I do I didn't get a chance to assess the female assistant, but the one on the West Stand side missed several offsides and was very slow to flag even when the ball was clearly out and it was obvious which way the throw in should go.

Like Port Vale, two poor teams out there- though not the visitors!

[Not Now Kato]

Not particularly good performances by any of the officials. The Ref was poor by any standards, pity Rovers were even worse!