RateTheRef

It was a simple matter to find the ground; finding the entrance  was a different matter, but eventually access was gained to

Friday 2nd September 2022
FA Cup 1st Round Qualifying
Three Bridges   2   v   1   Erith Town
Joshua Langley-Fineing (Sussex FA); Oliver Westgate, Patrick Jolliffe.

The view from the stand was hampered by the eye-level lights shining brightly the length of the (closed) clubhouse building. Well, that's my excuse.

The home side produced the first attack, the Erith keeper palmed the ball away to the home striker who decided that it would be better in the net and  promptly put it there. Thoughts of an easy win for Three Bridges were soon dispelled as Erith came back strongly. There were appeals for a penalty on 9 minutes, not only from the row of visiting supporters, who thought that roughly 50% of decisions were wrong (guess which), but also in rather unsavoury terms from the Erith boss, whose view will have been rather distant. Erith got their equaliser on 14 minutes and for the next half hour there were moments of danger at each end, but no further scores. In stoppage time Three Bridges were awarded a free-kick just outside the box, the referee racing to the spot to prevent any afters and the defender received the game's first yellow card. The free-kick was powered home,  half-time following the restart immediately.

This turned out to be bad for the game as the home management were soon barking orders to take time out of the game. Their own contribution being to demonstrate a range of ways not to provide a replacement ball promptly or rolling it slowly to where nobody was. This did not improve feelings on or off the pitch and Mr Langley-Fineing had a more testing half. He tried to keep things moving along, intercepting a subbed player to point him to the nearer touchline, and chivvying the keeper, but was not wholly successful. On 83 minutes the one-eyed Erith fans were vociferous in their claims for a penalty, not given, Mr Westgate trying to quell the Erith boss before waving the referee over, a yellow card being the result. There was time for a couple of yellows for the home side - the keeper for timewasting, the number 7 for a foul. There was also further (lesser) comment from the Erith dugout, Mr Westgate again getting involved, perhaps unnecessarily this time. The referee was probably less than delighted to be beckoned over again, with the finger being pointed at a different official. Whether another yellow was shown or not remains unknown as an Esher fan, whose vocabulary was in inverse proportion to his waistline (if such a thing could be found) went berserk, Mr Westgate being on the receiving end of a torrent of abuse. At the final whistle, all was not quite sweetness and light on the field, but a pitch  invasion by the Under-10 mascots somehow put an end to that.

Mr Langley-Fineing (another of these aristocratic-sounding names) is new to Level 3 and his display was not without promise, but he did struggle a little to prevent timewasting, though he did add a generous amount of additional time. He will hopefully develop the confidence to deal more firmly with such situations as he becomes settled at this level.

Finding the exit was easy, ditto the station and though the train was slightly delayed, JCFC was back in his hotel just after midnight.