RateTheRef

...instead it was a trip to

Tuesday 13th September 2022
NCEFL Premier Division
Golcar United   0   v   3   Maltby Main
Brandon Blackham (West Riding FA); Kerion Moore, Jermaine Isherwood.

The first business of the evening was to call at the Junction Chippy, to purchase a fish and a long teacake, separately wrapped. Sadly when a sloping seat was taken at the nearby bus stop, in order to assemble a fish butty, the teacake bit the dust. Never mind, the fish was excellent, cooked to order. (Had I settled for burger and chips at the ground, it would have cost just a bargain £3, compared with the £8 at one ground visited last weekend.)

On entering the ground, there was a pleasant greeting from Ian Cox, there, together with Brian Gould, on a ground-grading inspection. Perhaps there could be a new post of shirt-grading, as under lights Golcar's green and black was hard to distinguish at distance from the navy and blue of the visitors, with Mr Blackham's black disappearing into the mix.

With a bus from the bottom of the Avenue at 21.38, a prompt start is vital, but there was a lack of urgency on the part of the officials and the home side, especially with the knowledge that there would be a minute's silence and the start was delayed by three minutes. Any thoughts the home side might have had that they were in for an easy evening against bottom side Maltby, were soon dispelled when the visitors went ahead on 6 minutes and added a second on 12. Mr Blackham was not inclined to award free-kicks every time players ended up on the ground, though there appeared to be one, or maybe two little incidents where a yellow card was shown - AR1 had his pen poised, anyway. On 38 minutes the Maltby keeper caught the ball on the edge of his area, with vociferous shouts from spectators that he was outside, but Mr Isherwood gave no signal and play continued. The home boss was not happy, while one gentleman, at the opposite end of the field, must have been blessed with superhero vision, shouting "I could see that from here." When next play was stopped, there was a long lecture for a Golcar player.

Golcar had looked capable of a come-back towards the end of the first half, but their hopes disappeared just three minutes after the restart. Their number 8 made a ludicrous challenge two minutes later and Mr Blackham, perhaps charitably, showed him a second yellow and there were no arguments about that. There was a yellow for Maltby on the hour, and to their credit, Golcar's ten men fought hard and came close towards the end, but to no avail.

With viewing difficulties it was hard to say what, if anything, Mr Blackham did wrong, but equally so what he did particularly well, though there were no recriminations at the end. Two minutes more had been lost at half-time, so one thing he did do well was to allow six minutes added time - AR1's running up and down the line at substitutions having been more of a trundle - thereby decreasing the length of the wait for the alternative 22.10 bus. The connection at Huddersfield was made comfortably, but after just two stops, the new bus lost power and we had to wait for a replacement to be sent out. Better luck tonight, let's hope.