Our nasty undercurrent

[NickDRFC]

Interesting perspective from a Morecambe fan (thanks to Surrey Rover for posting the link in the other thread). I didn’t see this in our play at all (although I did think we got a bit from their ref, particularly the last 10 mins) - is it sour grapes in defeat or am I just wearing Roves-tinted specs?

“So – in just three minutes – we had seen part of Grant McCann’s game plan. In the eighth minute, we saw another side of it. Marcus Dackers – who was manhandled, fouled and otherwise impeded all throughout the game with no reaction from Referee Ollie Yates – made a clumsy tackle on Jack Senior. The Donny player fell – apparently lifeless – onto the muddy surface and lay so still for so long that you wondered if an Undertaker rather than Rovers’ medical staff should be called for. As he lay there absolutely prone, his team-mates got in the Referee’s ear.

So did the Magic Sponge revive him? Did the disease apparently decimating the freezing ground he was lying on devour him too?

No – he was waiting for the weak and ineffectual Ref to wave a yellow card at Marcus as his pals were crowding round the fussy little chap and demanding that he should. And as soon as the Referee gave into them – guess what? – Senior sprung to his feet and was suddenly as right as rain again.

A stronger official would have booked the Donny player for time wasting and feigning injury. But Mr Yates is not that man. So he continued to indulge the visitors virtually every time they fell over with a free-kick and then allowed them – time and again – to fall over off the ball and waste time every time they found themselves on the back foot until he asked them if they wanted the trainers to come on and treat them. Then the thought that they might have to leave the field – however briefly – galvanised them to suddenly get up and somehow find the strength to carry on.

So – as stated in the headline – Normal Service was Resumed tonight at the Maz: the refereeing was an absolute joke.

I thought that – throughout the game – there was a nasty undercurrent to Doncaster’s play. This was shown later on when Senior received a straight red card for a truly appalling powerful two-footed lunge from behind at Barrow loanee Ged Garner which could have broken a fellow professional’s ankles. It also raised its ugly head at the end of the game when large, Neanderthal defender Tom Anderson started making provocative gestures at the home crowd as they began to leave the ground. The Ref should have at least booked him for this stupid and aggressive outburst which even his own team-mates tried to stop him continuing with. But nothing happened – yet again.

This big Oik needs to grow up – what on earth was that all about? Mr McCann pointedly ignored Senior as he trudged off the pitch earlier – his sending-off could have cost his side the match after all. But does he condone this sort of nonsense to add to the constant play-acting of his players?

For me, Donny’s behaviour and the weakness of the referee ruined this game as a spectacle tonight. Rovers can play – they have a lot of very skilful players in their ranks.

So why don’t they?“

Full article here - https://shrimplythebestfootball.com/2025/02/19/one-nil-again/

[DonnyOsmond]

Sour grapes.

[adamtherover]

When in rome.....

[RobbieDRFC]

I think the main reason for us not playing last night, was the lack of surface making it impossible to play on.

[pib]

Their centre back (number 6) was all over Street all game, so the comment about Dackers is certainly sour grapes.

Look at the chance he had in the first minute, number 6 all over his shirt. There was also another incident very early on in the game (not sure if it was before or after the goal) where Street got the wrong side of him and the guy hauled him to the ground by his shirt. I was surprised it didn’t generate more appeals for a penalty.

[DearneValleyRover]

Definitely sour grapes

[Plumbster]

I thought the same on the sending off- the lad looked as though the stretcher was the only outcome until Jack was shown the red, and he then jumped back to his feet. Pretty much par for the course now but not sure what Tom was up to.

[glosterred]

Isn’t that just what Grimsby did to us on Saturday?


COYR

[GazLaz]

Dackers forearm smashed Senior. It was right in front of us, it was a really bad one.

[Lesonthewest]

Senior took an arm to the face, that's not feigning injury, I thought the referee was one of the better one's than we've had recently, he got the red wrong, as did this Morecambe supporter, neither was it two footed, a lunge, or from behind, he got the ball & his feet were barely off the floor. He got the powerfull bit right. As for Anderson, he was excellent all night, headed & kicked everything, so yes, those grapes are very sour.

[ForsolongaRover]

Every time a key refereeing decision is made against us an Article appears on here which roundly criticises the decision. The overwhelming majority of those who comment find no justification whatsoever in the decision. We see the same response here. Does it never strike such people that if they are right, practically every referee who officiates in a Rovers match is unfair to us? Do they ever then ask themselves whether that is credible?

Do we lose the capacity to see anything from anyone else’s point of view as soon as we sit down and watch a football match? I know some people extend that even to criticism of our own team, but surely you wouldn’t last long in a lot of jobs nowadays if you behaved like that at work.

[drfchound]

 I don’t believe that we are a dirty side but we have had a lot of red cards this season.
I think that football fans do the equivalent of wearing blinkers though and always feel hard done by when things appear to go against our team.
When I saw that tackle by Senior in live time I didn’t think it was a red card offence but after a few viewings I have to say that I’m still not sure.

[selby]

  If you watch the replay of the sending off the higher foot was the Morecambe player who turned his back on the actual tackle inviting contact and played the man who got sent off.

[Nudga]

To be honest,  I've got a bit of sympathy for this guy. We were nowhere near Grimsbys cheating at the weekend but there's still the time wasting from our goalkeeper,  some of our players trying to get cheap free kicks etc.
It can grind you down seeing it week in, week out.

[drfchound]

You are right Nudga, it is horrible seeing it every week.
The football authorities need to do something to sort this out quickly.
It will drive fans away if they don’t.

[ForsolongaRover]

  If you watch the replay of the sending off the higher foot was the Morecambe player who turned his back on the actual tackle inviting contact and played the man who got sent off.

Whilst I don’t dispute your view of the Morecambe player’s actions, do you not think that turning away from the tackler is a natural reaction? Taking an impact on your leg side-on with the threat to you left knee in this case is much riskier. Do players really expose themselves to a more serious injury in the split second in which they react?

[Pancho Regan]

I know I wear Rovers-tinted spectacles but I honestly don’t recognise our team from that assessment.

The rantings of a fan who sees his team heading for non-league football. I feel his pain but he’s wrong.

[In the box]

I know I wear Rovers-tinted spectacles but I honestly don’t recognise our team from that assessment.

The rantings of a fan who sees his team heading for non-league football. I feel his pain but he’s wrong.

Is anyone wishing that the January window wouldn’t keep playing a major part on our season after season . Clearing some of the contracted playing staff out on loan to make way for temporary loans is just getting a bit tedious !

[ForsolongaRover]

I know I wear Rovers-tinted spectacles but I honestly don’t recognise our team from that assessment.

The rantings of a fan who sees his team heading for non-league football. I feel his pain but he’s wrong.

The opposition are the enemy for any football fan, including me, and the more they upset you, the stronger is the feeling. All I can say is that as I’ve advanced into old age, I can disengage those emotions more quickly afterwards. We all want the same thing in the end.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I don’t believe that we are a dirty side but we have had a lot of red cards this season.
I think that football fans do the equivalent of wearing blinkers though and always feel hard done by when things appear to go against our team.
When I saw that tackle by Senior in live time I didn’t think it was a red card offence but after a few viewings I have to say that I’m still not sure.

I agree with you. I've looked at it a few times and I'm still not fully decided, so we can understand why the ref might have seen Seniors lunge as dangerous, whether he got a piece of the ball or not.

We're definitely not a dirty team, particularly thinking about three of our reds (for two yellows)

Clifton...One yellow for kicking the ball away. Which I understand he did again last night?

Molyneux. One yellow for putting the ball in the net after whistle had gone. First for dissent?

Gibson - 2nd yellow for moving ball forward at our attacking free kick.

We've done some daft thinks more than dirty things, shooting ourselves in the foot.

[One_Matty_Lucas]

You've got to love Football.

Grimsby do a job on us, we all post that its a disgrace and should be banned from football, nasty undercurrent.
We do a job on Morecambe and its sour grapes when the opposition say the same.

FWIW I thought Dacker deserved a red for the clumsy forearm to Senior's face and I thought Senior deserved a red from his lunge.
However would be interesting to see both with PL VAR cameras.

[GazLaz]

You've got to love Football.

Grimsby do a job on us, we all post that its a disgrace and should be banned from football, nasty undercurrent.
We do a job on Morecambe and its sour grapes when the opposition say the same.

FWIW I thought Dacker deserved a red for the clumsy forearm to Senior's face and I thought Senior deserved a red from his lunge.
However would be interesting to see both with PL VAR cameras.

I think the elbow/forearm smash was slightly the byproduct of their man being 6’7 and Senior being 5’7 but still, it was a bad one. If you were cynically going to flatten someone, that’s how you would do it. 

[PDX_Rover]

Knackers to Dackers. He should stick to lamp lighting duties round the town of an evening.

[chrisd_123]

I don’t believe that we are a dirty side but we have had a lot of red cards this season.
I think that football fans do the equivalent of wearing blinkers though and always feel hard done by when things appear to go against our team.
When I saw that tackle by Senior in live time I didn’t think it was a red card offence but after a few viewings I have to say that I’m still not sure.

I agree with you. I've looked at it a few times and I'm still not fully decided, so we can understand why the ref might have seen Seniors lunge as dangerous, whether he got a piece of the ball or not.

We're definitely not a dirty team, particularly thinking about three of our reds (for two yellows)

Clifton...One yellow for kicking the ball away. Which I understand he did again last night?

Molyneux. One yellow for putting the ball in the net after whistle had gone. First for dissent?

Gibson - 2nd yellow for moving ball forward at our attacking free kick.

We've done some daft thinks more than dirty things, shooting ourselves in the foot.

I've been saying this all season. We don't do some of that dirty stuff enough. What we do have is a lack of intelligence in the team that draws us in to stupid decisions that other teams don't seem fall for.

Having said that, the issue around bookings for kicking the ball away. I'd love to see how many bookings we've had for that this season compared to our opposition. That does seem to be one where we get the punishment then the opposition doesn't in the same game.

[ForsolongaRover]

Perhaps the players would benefit from getting some psychological advice. At school, some kids always seemed to “get away with it” when it came to discipline. Others didn’t and I was one of those, but looking back I was naive compared with those who knew how to play the system. If we really do get a worse deal than other clubs - and I’m not sure I buy that - someone at the club should be trying to work out why and then do something about it. Complaining to the authorities only draws attention to you and makes it worse.

[donnievic]

Definitely sour grapes yes didn’t think deckers shoukd of been carded as it wasn’t a flying elbow his arm was just out slightly and for me was just the size difference that made the coming together like it was,as for time wasting see there was no mention of their lad being told to walk off the pitch by the ref after 10 mins or so to then be told by the bench to sit down so he could be treated on the pitch

[LincsRover]

I agree, sour grapes from a fan of a struggling team. Can’t blame him really as we’ve all been there when our team is struggling and decisions don’t seem to go your way, and other teams seem to get away with stuff. If anything I think we are a bit soft and often get bullied by teams who are better at the ‘dark arts’ than we are! Nothing to see here! 

[BobG]

How does that view stack up, Lincs, with Rovers having more red cards this season than every other League 2 club   - Bromley excepted who have the same as us?

BobG

[Bentley Bullet]

Maybe because, as Lincsrover says, other teams are better at the ‘dark arts’ than we are.

[TheFunk]

Overall we can't be that dirty as we are in 19th position for most yellow cards.