RateTheRef

The evening meal was not a success at

Tuesday 23rd August 2022
NPL Premier Division
Liversedge   1   v   4    Morpeth Town
Jacob Graham (Manchester); Adam Watson, Taylor Metcalf.

Prices are going up everywhere and the only pie on offer (Potato and meat) was £3.50 and despite an additional 50p for peas, proved lass than palatable. Chips would have added an extra £2, so this miserable skinflint went without.

When Mr Graham's name began to appear in the appointments, it seemed possible that he might be the son of Paul Graham, but unless Paul hails from Northern Ireland, that appears unlikely. The programme did inform us, however, that he is 22 and a civil servant. (Does anybody claim to be an uncivil servant? There must be a few around.) He looked the model of the young referee - tall, but not to excess, slim, with well-groomed dark hair and a good reverse gear.

Unfortunately, he was presented with a tricky match to referee. The early stages were scruffy in the extreme, players wrestling (gently) at every challenge, with pushes and barges galore. Mr Graham awarded regular free-kicks, evenly distributed, with just a vague hint of Buggins turn as often he had a choice of simultaneous offences. On 10 minutes a Morpeth player required attention from the physio; as he left the field, a colleague sought a quick consultation and he too was sent to the touchline. Midway through the half a home player was heading for AR2 to give him a piece of his mind (which he really could not spare) but was halted by a crescendo triple "Whoa" (not to be confused with Frankie Howerd's "Woe, woe and thrice woe!") Liversedge have in goal the Odious Porter, who used to disgrace Brighouse and on one occasion he charged way out of his area, for no obvious reason, made no contact but sadly was rescued by his defenders, who cleared the danger. Just after the half hour, Mr Graham was dealing with a free-kick in the Morpeth half,when a spat started deep in Liversedge territory, with the OP naturally involved. Mr Metcalf came on, Mr Watson joined them for a chat and a couple of players received a long ticking-off. Liversedge went ahead on 35 minutes, a good finish after some nifty footwork in a crowded area. The lead did not last long: Home defenders looked to be in a position to clear a high ball on the edge of the penalty area, but the OP came and missed, leaving an attacker to head into an empty net. When he repeated the scenario four minutes later, with an identical result, JCFC's Schadenfreude knew no bounds  It had, though, been a poor half. Mr Graham must have been wishing for a clear bookable offence to try to settle things down, but only one chance came and it was not taken. It was a situation where the first player cautioned would be entitled to feel aggrieved in a "Why me?" sort of way, but at times the referee must bite that bullet.

That feeling must have been  raised in the officials' room at the break, as there were two cautions, one per side, in the first three minutes of the second half. There was another mass gathering at an injury stoppage, with a voice from the benches repeatedly shouting "Can I have a word" to which the only correct answer is "No." The low point of the evening came on 53 minutes when the OP made a brilliant save. Around the hour mark, the home crowd demanded a red card, with laughable shouts of "Last man" but only a yellow card resulted, indistinctly shown. A defensive error soon gave Morpeth their third goal, Sedge were not quite finished, but a free-kick clipping the top of the bar was as near as they were to get. The visitors' fourth came after 86 minutes, to kill the slight hopes remaining. Just before the end, Mr Graham did well to intercept a home player, this tine with a quintuple "Whoa," and a modicum of difficulty. As a result, he ended up issuing his calming words with his back to the crowd of players, but fortunately nothing amiss happened.

As stated at the start, it was not an easy game to handle and could probably have benefited from a more experienced referee - or at least one with a bit more "clout." Mr Graham will surely become a fine official in time, but that time has not quite arrived yet. He will learn from experience, no doubt, and  overall his work was acceptable and things seemed more amicable at the end than they had been at times.

Ten years ago, JCFC thought nothing of walking home after matches at the Clayborn. He certainly thinks very little of the idea now, so waited for the 22.40 bus, changing at Bankfoot, and was home by 23.50.