Bypassed me at the time...

[BillyStubbsTears]

...but the more I think about it, the angrier I'm getting about that police decision to insist on the penalties being taken at the home end.

Apparently it was for safety reasons because they didn't want Charlton fans running to the away end after winning the shoot out.

That is an utter f**king disgrace. It's basically saying:
a) Charlton cannot control their fans
b) Because of a), Charlton gains a big advantage.

That seems to me to be a very dangerous precedent.

I don't much feel like being legalistic after last night, but I think a formal complaint from the Rovers to the FL would be in order. 

[Tarkovsky_Mikluzhkin]

Why was there a coin toss as well? Surely you shoot towards your own fans or take the first pen. We ended up with neither, How? Another post reckons Rowe won the toss and choose the latter. So did the ref at that point say "You can't shoot that way for safety reasons, but that syill counts as YOUR choice" and then ask Charlton whether they wanted to go first or second. 
If I was down to take the 5th Pen the difference in pressure between being 9th or 10th taker overall might just play on my mind. Especially if I felt I'd been conned out of it a little bit.

[phil o sophical]

There was just one toss of the coin which Charlton won. The ref clearly asked the Charlton skipper first or second. We certainly didn't get an option of which end the kicks were taken

[Bristol Red Rover]

There's no doubt which end was used made a difference. The safety issue makes no sense, fans would and did run on whichever end was used, Charlton fans were all around the ground. If we'd have won, our fans running the legth of the pitch would have caused a bigger safety issue.

I'm with BST about Rovers making a complaint and getting a reply from the FA that goes into exactly why there was an issue at one end of the ground and not the other, not the "because plod said so" reply that's likely.

[Tarkovsky_Mikluzhkin]

Surely we should have had the advantage of choosing 1st or 2nd as a default to Charlton having the which way they kicked advantage 

[RedJ]

That is an absolute joke. They f**king ran towards the away end regardless!

Even bigger joke that with that in mind they still had Charlton kicking first. Doesn't change the fact that we missed two penalties but Jesus wept. That is pathetic.

[Chris Black come back]

Shame police were not so eager to get involved when thousands of their goons were hassling the players at the end. Rarely seen such a half-arsed effort.

[StocksArmy]

I touched on this last night. As you say the more you think about it the more pathetic it becomes. I feel everything was set up to give Charlton the upper hand at any cost. Lets start with Sky.... You have Chris Powell doing the punditry. WHY? Why not have somebody who is completely neutral? Even when Butler scored the biggest compliment we got was "Doncaster have given as good as theyve got" You having a laugh mate? Weve hammered them for 135mins out of 180! Then the penalty decisions. The push on Marquis is the most blatant penalty I have ever seen. The trip on Rowe in which the commentators had the audacity to say that the defender had just got the slightest touch which he clearly never did. The pull on Downings shirt? None of these incidents got any coverage, sky just made out like they didnt happen. Then after this the ball strikes Marquis and they put the incident on repeat. I think this on sky's part is an utter disgrace. It feels like weve been cheated. Get VAR into every game so that the smaller clubs get a fair crack at it!

[redarmy82]

According to their fans, our lot were throwing missiles into the home end for the entire game, which influenced the decision of where the penalties were taking.

[BillyStubbsTears]

There's no doubt which end was used made a difference. The safety issue makes no sense, fans would and did run on whichever end was used, Charlton fans were all around the ground. If we'd have won, our fans running the legth of the pitch would have caused a bigger safety issue.

I'm with BST about Rovers making a complaint and getting a reply from the FA that goes into exactly why there was an issue at one end of the ground and not the other, not the "because plod said so" reply that's likely.

It would actually have been easier to contain a pitch invasion with the penalties at the other end and a chain of stewards across the 18 yard line at the home end.

I'm really f**king angry about this.

[Bristol Red Rover]

According to their fans, our lot were throwing missiles into the home end for the entire game, which influenced the decision of where the penalties were taking.

I heard that too, though suspect there are two sides to that? And even if it is the case, I don't see how that makes much, if any, difference to the decision?

But, the decision to take pens at their end appears to have been made before the game.

[bobjimwilly]

for what it's worth I've started a twitter poll: https://twitter.com/bobjimwilly/status/1129701611452997632

[pib]

Can we ever lose out on something without any conspiratorial shite rearing it’s head afterwards?

It’s annoying that the decision wasn’t made as it normally would be (coin toss) but I do hope this bone of contention doesn’t drag on for years like the Lewis Dunk thing.

[bobjimwilly]

Can we ever lose out on something without any conspiratorial shite rearing it’s head afterwards?

It’s annoying that the decision wasn’t made as it normally would be (coin toss) but I do hope this bone of contention doesn’t drag on for years like the Lewis Dunk thing.

it's not sour grapes in my eyes; I think everyone appreciated a great match and that penalties are generally a coin toss. however it's a legitimate point.

[redarmy82]

The same happened at Chester in the play offs I believe

[Bentley Bullet]

Perhaps we could demand a replay?

[PDX_Rover]

I wouldn’t bother asking the EFL or FA anything. All that would do would mark the card for next season.

What needs to happen is not having outside parties who have nothing to do with the game that people have paid good money to see, govern proceedings on the pitch. That is f**ked up.

As far as I could see, it was Charlton fans throwing missiles at Rovers’ dugout. Even the completely biased ESPN commentator over here called that out. I don’t think there was any bother from the away end - can anyone who was there comment?

I don’t think it’s conspiratorial to ask these things.

[IDM]

Isn’t it up to the ref to decide which end to use, and a coin toss for who goes first.?

[GazLaz]

It’s a joke. I’d they don’t want people on the pitch they should put an announcement out saying anyone that goes on to the pitch will get weighed into by coppers using batons, then if anyone ignores the warning, leather them.

[i_ateallthepies]

I suspect had the boot been on the other foot and the local plod made the same intervention to our advantage at the keepmoat, we collectively might feel a tad less indignant.

[Bristol Red Rover]

I suspect had the boot been on the other foot and the local plod made the same intervention to our advantage at the keepmoat, we collectively might feel a tad less indignant.

Deeply embarressed would be the feeling in that scenario. It would have taken the shine off any victory, and so I'd feel anger at the police for being thick jobsworths - pending any clear justification of what they did with their size 13's.

[Filo]

The Met have unsavoury history with South Yorkshire, I’ll say no more

[Bristol Red Rover]

The Mat have unsavoury history with South Yorkshire, I’ll say no more

What do they care, we're not on their doorstep.

[Filo]

The Mat have unsavoury history with South Yorkshire, I’ll say no more

What do they care, we're not on their doorstep.

They cared when they were on our doorstep, about their overtime that is

[Mr1Croft]

Purely for the purposes of playing devil's advocate, a case could be made that because the players tunnel was located in the corner adjacent to the home end, it would be quicker to get the players and officials safely into the tunnel in the event of a pitch invasion.

However:

1) With the exception of the keepers, the penalty taker and the 2 officials, all other playing and coaching staff were on the halfway line so the distance for the majority of players to get into the tunnel was the same regardless of the end chosen.

2) Despite the pitch invasion, it seems like the majority of both sets of players stayed on the field throughout the pitch invasion.

I counted 3 flares being thrown onto the pitch by the Charlton fans from that stand in the first 20 minutes and I was on the front row next to their fans and didn't see any missiles being thrown. Whilst there was good natured chanting and gestures between the two (as expected) it never got feisty in that stand. The majority of the tension seemed to be with those in the bottom tier of the stand left of the Rovers supporters.

Either way, I don't know what legitimate grounds they had for 'safety reasons'.

[Donnywolf]

The Mat have unsavoury history with South Yorkshire, I’ll say no more

What do they care, we're not on their doorstep.

... a welcome distraction ?

[southwestexile]

I’ve appeased my anger with them finishing 15 points above us and deserving a bit of an advantage. If we were 3rd and they were 6th then the second leg would’ve been at the Keepmoat. Isn’t it more of an advantage to have the extra time in their home leg?

Let’s move on. We can gloat next season when we do the double over them

[redarmy82]

What I've found strange is that their fans said we barely celebrated when we scored. Apparently there were no "scenes" in the away end, more just quiet applause when we scored.

Tbiufht our fans were fantastic.

[RedJ]

What I've found strange is that their fans said we barely celebrated when we scored. Apparently there were no "scenes" in the away end, more just quiet applause when we scored.

Tbiufht our fans were fantastic.

Bizarre lot, some of em. On the way back to my car some little scrotes took great pleasure in telling me how shit Rovers were. Despite the fact that we'd actually beaten them on the night.

[BillyStubbsTears]

I’ve appeased my anger with them finishing 15 points above us and deserving a bit of an advantage. If we were 3rd and they were 6th then the second leg would’ve been at the Keepmoat. Isn’t it more of an advantage to have the extra time in their home leg?

Let’s move on. We can gloat next season when we do the double over them

You're rather missing the point.

The FL regulations state clearly that the choice of ends for penalties should be decided by a toss up, unless the ref decides for some other good reason (eg safety) that this must be over-ridden.

It appears the "safety concern" was Charlton's inability to control their own fans.

We've been unfairly penalised because Charlton couldn't abide by League requirements. That is wrong in principle and sets a very bad precedent.

It's got nowt to do with home advantage which Charlton had and deserved.