Ignore the ref

[andyst79]

Bailey and Kelly as the 2 in front of back 4
If Close is going to start he has to play further forward because he can’t defend.
Last week he was good, this week awful.
We mis Mathew Craig the most imo He simply has not been replaced

Sbarra is a talented player but lacks physicality for this league.
Thought Chesterfield were just better than us all over the pitch.

We need to get the middle of the park sorted. That’s where our weakness are most evident..

Sbarra you'd have in your 5 a side team, but not in men's football

He's been 1 of the stand out performer's in the National League, a league that Chesterfield were in last season who absolutely schooled us today. In fact most teams who come out of there do well. Most fans were rightly calling him to start today so what do we do , discard him after 1 start when the whole team played poorly?! Can't keep chopping & changing, give the guy chance.

[DonnyOsmond]

Bailey and Kelly as the 2 in front of back 4
If Close is going to start he has to play further forward because he can’t defend.
Last week he was good, this week awful.
We mis Mathew Craig the most imo He simply has not been replaced

Sbarra is a talented player but lacks physicality for this league.
Thought Chesterfield were just better than us all over the pitch.

We need to get the middle of the park sorted. That’s where our weakness are most evident..

Don't people say the National League is more physical?

[Bentley Bullet]

One aspect of our play that I think is lacking is nobody seems to want to run with the ball. When a player receives the ball, he invariably stands still and passes it with very little movement.

[LincsRover]

Sorry but you can’t ignore the ref in this match. First goal was never a free kick. Penalty was soft to say the least. If the ref can’t take a bit of criticism then why is he reffing - yellow cards for contesting poor decisions classed as dissent - it was all about his fragile ego. If I were the EFL refs governing body I would be checking his bet365 account - he most certainly had a life changing bet on chesterfield to win today. He’s either totally incompetent or on the take. Cheating c*nt!!

[Bentley Bullet]

It's not incompetence. If it was, he would be equally incompetent in his decision-making for both teams. Today he gave Chesterfield everything and Donny nothing.

That looked to me like partiality to put it very mildly.

[LincsRover]

It's not incompetence. If it was, he would be equally incompetent in his decision-making for both teams. Today he gave Chesterfield everything and Donny nothing.

That looked to me like partiality to put it very mildly.

Exactly, his betting account needs checking! 

[Pancho Regan]

Ignore the ref?!
Are you serious?!

That’s like saying “apart from the tsunami we experienced during our holiday in Indonesia which killed 200,000 people we actually had quite a pleasant time”.

[PDX_Rover]

Ignore the ref?!
Are you serious?!

That’s like saying “apart from the tsunami we experienced during our holiday in Indonesia which killed 200,000 people we actually had quite a pleasant time”.

Apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system, and public health ... what have the Romans ever done for us?

Brought peace

[Donnywolf]

Yes he was poor but can anyone think we deserved anything from that.

The game may have ended up differently with a normal referee. There was at least 3 massive game defining moments and lots of smaller ones which stopped any momentum from us.

Which big decision did he get 100% wrong? The first red was nailed on, he handled it for the penalty and the second red could well have been right.

Got some of the small decisions wrong admittedly.   

Well , everyone I spoke to at Half time said the Free kick which led to their Goal was  NOT a foul

Everyone I've spoken to said McGrath made a robust but fair challenge

Neither of those were trivial decisions and nor was their forward following through on Teddy when the ball was long gone and which it seemed didn't warrant a Card in a game where every foul we did DID result in Yellow or it appeared that way

[WheatleyRover]

We might of been crap, but the ref was shocking, had the responsibility to Referee a big game, be fair and blew it, he might want to consider stepping down to Sunday League level along with the linesmen! He might as well have come on wearing a Chesterfield jersey. All Chesterfield had to do was turn up yesterday.

[Usher wide.]

Yes he was poor but can anyone think we deserved anything from that.

From where I was sat, some 30 yards away with Yeboah facing me, it hits the top of his standing foot then bounces up onto his arm which is in a ‘natural position’ but he had no time to move it anyway before the ball bounced up at him. The circus clown dressed in black was stood behind Yeboah so didn’t have a good view to give such a massive decision.

Never a penalty in my opinion.

The game may have ended up differently with a normal referee. There was at least 3 massive game defining moments and lots of smaller ones which stopped any momentum from us.

Which big decision did he get 100% wrong? The first red was nailed on, he handled it for the penalty and the second red could well have been right.

Got some of the small decisions wrong admittedly.   

That penalty decision was a shocker. Yeboah had seen the ball very late as it's cleared the jumping players ahead of him. It's bounced awkwardly and hit his arm in a perfectly natural position. He may just have moved his arm 2-3 inches instinctively as the ball dropped and bounced, but the ball would have still hit him if he hadn't. There was no advantage lost to Chesterfield as many Yeboah was marking wasn't in any position to win the ball.

It's ridiculous to give a penalty for that.

[Janso]

We were shite but 11 v 15 is hard enough, never mind 9.

[Donnywolf]

We might of been crap, but the ref was shocking, had the responsibility to Referee a big game, be fair and blew it, he might want to consider stepping down to Sunday League level along with the linesmen! He might as well have come on wearing a Chesterfield jersey. All Chesterfield had to do was turn up yesterday.

As did Everton when he gave them everything and like yesterdays late assault on our Gk ( twice) with no Yellows he let a horrendous challenge go on one of our players in the left back position of the field

Someone said he was a Premier Ref but he's not even Sunday League standard

[Spud]

I'm surprised no one else has mentioned the assault on TSL that never even resulted in a talking to, never mind a card.
& Tom got sent off for what, exactly?

[ravenrover]

They have, on other threads

[Ryaldinhio]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned our penalty appeal for hand ball.

After having given a very very soft penalty against us there was a shot in second half when we were 2.0 down and from where I was sat it looked like their defender almost dived and saved it! That said I was quite far away so might not have been that bad!

[donnievic]

Yes he was poor but can anyone think we deserved anything from that.

The game may have ended up differently with a normal referee. There was at least 3 massive game defining moments and lots of smaller ones which stopped any momentum from us.

Which big decision did he get 100% wrong? The first red was nailed on, he handled it for the penalty and the second red could well have been right.

Got some of the small decisions wrong admittedly.   

Well , everyone I spoke to at Half time said the Free kick which led to their Goal was  NOT a foul

Everyone I've spoken to said McGrath made a robust but fair challenge

Neither of those were trivial decisions and nor was their forward following through on Teddy when the ball was long gone and which it seemed didn't warrant a Card in a game where every foul we did DID result in Yellow or it appeared that way

their lad did get a card for the challenge on teddy,it was the 2nd one that didn’t when teddy made abit of a meal of it looking  for it,mMcGrathyes he won the ball but got booked because of his follow through.sum will say well he won the ball so doesn’t matter or he was protecting himself but you still have to be in full control of yourself even after the ball is won,having said that like you say 1st goal very soft when their player is already on the ball and having seen replay of the handball we would all be shouting and going mad at the south stand but for me it’s ball to hand and it just hits his arm in a natural position

[donnievic]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned our penalty appeal for hand ball.

After having given a very very soft penalty against us there was a shot in second half when we were 2.0 down and from where I was sat it looked like their defender almost dived and saved it! That said I was quite far away so might not have been that bad!

I was in the south and can’t really remember any real appeals for handball

[Janso]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned our penalty appeal for hand ball.

After having given a very very soft penalty against us there was a shot in second half when we were 2.0 down and from where I was sat it looked like their defender almost dived and saved it! That said I was quite far away so might not have been that bad!

I was in the south and can’t really remember any real appeals for handball

I remember it but it was half hearted.

[ForsolongaRover]

Perhaps it would be useful to hire a qualified professional to talk to the players about how to cope with an official like Mr Bell. Indeed they have to relate to a referee and his decisions every game and do we not learn in life that you have to humour officious people?

In football, not only is there there a risk of cards, but anger often does not make players play better, because part of their attention is distracted by their resentment.

…and if you’re going to write to the EFL the only way to make a impression would be to quote a North Derbyshire address and say you are a Spire-ite!

[Donnywolf]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned our penalty appeal for hand ball.

After having given a very very soft penalty against us there was a shot in second half when we were 2.0 down and from where I was sat it looked like their defender almost dived and saved it! That said I was quite far away so might not have been that bad!

They also had a second Pen appeal that to me looked more "giveable" than the one they got

Near post East stand side

Maybe Ref thought better of it , which again should NOT be a factor in his thought process , if he actually has one

[Pancho Regan]

A very bad day at the office for Mr Bell…End of.

[Alan Southstand]

No, not a bad day. Read the link to the Preston supporter re their game 2 years ago. How is he still in a job?

[EasyforDennis]

Just watched the Man Utd game and it was an exact replica of our game yesterday but without the shite referee.

[Alan Southstand]

Note from the BBC report during ManU game - apparently ManU players appealed for a penalty as the ball hit a Spurs player on the arm, but he said his arm was by his side, so nothing doing there! See, Yeboah’s arm was by his side, but the jerk of a ref we had blew immediately for a pen.

Different strokes for different folks?

Ignore the ref at your peril.

[Spud]

Just watched the Man Utd game and it was an exact replica of our game yesterday but without the shite referee.

I had the same thought watching it.