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Messages - MKRef
1
« on: Mon 16 Mar 2026 17:42 »
I can't grumble with Farai Hallam on Stoke's trip to Preston. Has been a steady pair of hands in the past, although this will be his third game involving the Potters in 2026!
I'll be interested to see how Gavin Ward fares with that Midlands derby at Pride Park after the reverse finished with 10-a-side.
Did anyone ever work out the reason behind Martin Coy's Championship game last season? Seems strange in reflection with several likelier NL candidates ahead of him for promotion. Was it a one-off game or just because of a lack of officials at the time?
2
« on: Tue 10 Mar 2026 23:39 »
Fan view: A first Stoke penalty this season - at last!
Ref view: On the softer side but you can argue two defenders impact Cisse, with neither really playing the ball. Cajuste has his arm across Cisse's chest having misjudged the flight of the ball, while Kipre hand on the shoulder from behind. Can understand why he's given it.
Not sure if it was ever picked up but Kipre had a kick out at Smit off the ball in the first half that went completely unnoticed - there was no difference in that compared to what Sorba Thomas saw a second yellow for from Ruebyn Ricardo on Saturday, so we always bemoan a lack of consistency.
Overall, a draw a fair result on the reflection. Didn't think Ipswich had to do much for two of their goals - deflection & a GK error - but that's another story. A solid showing from Kirk, but wish he'd have clamped down on dissent in the first half, especially from Azon.
3
« on: Mon 02 Mar 2026 20:54 »
Three games as Fourth for Leigh Doughty.
His pen must be out of ink after all his recent cautioning! No James Bell again. Has he suffered an injury? Not had a middle since the end of January.
4
« on: Wed 25 Feb 2026 21:36 »
Unfortunately haven't been able to make it back to get to the game in person, so I'm having to cope with the Sky coverage.
The usual inconsistencies from Linington, where fouls you expect to be given aren't but those at the cheaper end get awarded.
The Oxford equaliser had a suspicion of offside. A really tight call where the benefit went with the attacking side.
But a new one for me is seeing Brannagan stamp on Cisse off the ball, only for the officials to award Oxford a free-kick. Given that outcome was made one of the officials must have seen some of the incident but a misjudgement. A very lucky boy.
That would have been a major talking point if Brannagan's cross that saw Lankshear hit the bar had dropped in.
5
« on: Mon 16 Feb 2026 20:07 »
Am I seeing that Peter Wright has an appointment on Saturday followed by Monday? He might be back in the groove after doing 12 league games since his return, but isn't that a tad excessive?
6
« on: Mon 02 Feb 2026 17:55 »
Have a feeling Adam Herczeg will be the next potential debutant in the top-flight, seems to have a good run of games and the Man City FA Cup tie might have been a clue - given Farai Hallam was handed a tie at Anfield.
Good to see Elliot Bell back at this level, impressed by him on the two occasions I've seen him. Interested to see how John Busby fares in something of a Midlands derby at St Andrew's.
Will get a first sighting of Anthony Backhouse on my team's trip to The Valley - he seems to be having a solid season.
7
« on: Sun 01 Feb 2026 11:34 »
Excellent performance - one of the best I've seen in a long time. I can see why he's highly rated and will be getting plenty more Premier League games in the future.
The only real talking point was the Azaz caution for simulation. Phillips dangled a leg and I was fully expecting a penalty to be awarded, but great positioning from Hallam to spot the theatrics.
Other than that, he allowed plenty of contact and seemed to be able to keep it to a consistent threshold. He didn't seem to fall for many attackers going to ground easily to 'buy' a free-kick. It was also nice to see a referee caution a goalkeeper for time-wasting after a couple of warnings rather than just stand in the centre circle pointing to his watch.
Final point - some excellent teamwork with AR2 who alerted him to a foul by Stephens when he threw Smit to the ground when Hallam was turning away from the incident to follow the play.
8
« on: Wed 21 Jan 2026 21:50 »
A really poor second half showing. His foul detection and cautioning have been all over the place.
A two-footed challenge from Luke Ayling only earns a yellow card. Who is coaching these referees?
The second yellow for Bosun Lawal looks on the harsh side when similar challenges, on the whole, haven't been cautioned.
Not sure how Conway has escaped a card for an SPA offence or delaying the restart.
9
« on: Sat 17 Jan 2026 18:55 »
The moderator's might be busy here but I thought Hendo's 'Worst Ref Performance Ever' thread was in relation to Matt Donohue this afternoon.
It was a poor game, where QPR came for a point, but were aided by being allowed to break play up with time-wasting and tactical timeouts - the GK going down 'injured' to get treatment after 20 mins when nobody had been around him.
There were 3 KMIs, all of which he has failed to correctly identify, as he did with a couple of SPA offences, which he didn't caution despite booking players willy-nilly for holding at corners and dissent.
KMI 1: A Sorba Thomas goal-bound header is blocked by Mbengue with his arm in an unnatural position, away from the silhouette. Donohue waved the appeals away and booked Stoke's Cisse for his appeal. At that point, Mbengue had already been booked as well.
KMI 2: Jimmy Dunne's challenge on Mubama that saw him stretchered off with a season-ending injury. Looked pretty poor and gave just a caution.
KMI 3: Richard Kone looks at Ben Wilmot under a high ball then thrusts his elbow into the defender's head. Only a yellow card. Given Tanganga's red for Sheff Utd, this was assault and any professional referee has to spot that it's a red card.
Donohue's authoritarian style doesn't help. And, for me, he doesn't protect players and is a threat to their wellbeing. That was highlighted by Mubama's season-ending injury.
He also must have had a new watch for Christmas given the amount of times he pointed to it to try and get QPR to move the game along. No sanctions for persistent and obvious time-wasting yet again. Although one of the offenders was Mbengue, so I doubt he wanted to show him the second yellow for that.
For one the supposed top SG2 officials, this was a performance way off what it required at this level. A lot of training required on positioning and identifying the correct sanctions/restarts.
10
« on: Tue 30 Dec 2025 01:02 »
Second time I've seen Mr Busby this season and I've left unsure what is and isn't a foul. He seems willing to allow a high degree of contact but borders on inconsistent foul detection.
There were several queries about this performance. Firstly, there are times that he fails to signal and you're left guessing the restart, especially when balls are being contested.
How many times do you need to warn a GK before actually cautioning them for time wasting? There were three clear warnings for Cooper - one in the first half and two after the break - to hurry the game up. Instead of issuing the caution he stood waving his arm & pointing at his watch.
And a similar point - do referee's actually enforce the 8 seconds for holding onto the ball when in play? There were a couple of occasions I counted 10-12 seconds while it was in Cooper's hands when set, yet watching Busby, he seemed to count down to 1 & 2 seconds then would freeze allowing more than the eight seconds to accrue.
On the red card, I've seen both sets of fans calling it harsh. However, I think it'd be really good to hear the official's audio for this decision for a couple of reasons. From my seat I saw Busby do a couple of things that suggested he was only going to caution Pearson.
His right hand to right side pocket & he pointed to Rigo, suggesting that he was the covering defender. But then reached for his top pocket to brandish the straight red. So, either he's taken advice from AR1 for the red card or swayed after 3/4 Sheff Utd players surrounded him. In real time, the lingering doubt I had was around 'was it an obvious goal-scoring opportunity?' I haven't seen a replay and feel it's in the orange category - some refs would go yellow, while others go red.
11
« on: Sat 29 Nov 2025 23:43 »
Thought Doughty was pretty poor overall. Lacked any control and his judgement for fouls & contact lacked any sort of consistency.
If you say he remained consistent for not cautioning players for cynical fouls or SPA, then that's a big negative in my book. First 5-10 mins, Ajayi lucky not to see yellow for a trip when he was turned and out of position. Haven't seen the Hull penalty appeal back to comment on. Crooks committed a couple of cynical first-half fouls, yet again, no card & Manhoef will a blatant yellow in the second half not issued either.
Big question marks over the equalise. There's a hint of handball followed by potential offside. The nearside asistant seemed to miss a couple throughout the game as well.
First card for Destan kicking the ball away, yet first half Crooks stood in front of the ball stopping a quick restart, so the Stoke man kicked it off him only for Doughty to give him the talking to. Personally, I felt he lacked any authority and control, which led to the handbags at the end with Lundstrum goading the Stoke fans causing a mass confrontation that had about three different breakouts.
12
« on: Sat 20 Sep 2025 13:16 »
Not a foul in the first 20 minutes but since then his decision making has been questionable.
Morrison rips the shirt of Mubama's back but Robinson adjudges the striker to have backed in and committed the first foul. Looked harsh.
But how Mbengue is still on the pitch is beyond me. Heavy touch, so goes high into a challenge catching Pearson at the top of the sock and racks his studs down the shin. Robinson stood a couple of yards away only gives a FK. Clear red for SFP but somehow misses it. Suppose it's another member of the SG1 who can't recognise SFP, which is serious concern.
That incident has raised the temperature and has since seen the yellow come out for a cynical Pearson foul and a Norrington-Davies high boot.
13
« on: Mon 18 Aug 2025 21:43 »
So far Stoke have had Elliot Bell, James Bell, Lewis Smith and now Josh Smith. So two Bells and two Smiths, which pairing will be next? They must be readying the Madleys for their next two games?  Didn't expect to see Rob Jones being sent to Birmingham. Sure Preston will be thrilled by Donohue, wasn't there a quirky stat last season about his first four red cards in game involving the Lilywhites?
14
« on: Tue 12 Aug 2025 09:31 »
Lewis Smith could have an eventful day. Wednesday fans protested peacefully at Leicester, I'm far from convinced the same will apply for the first home game and there has been a lot of talk about stopping the game.
Agree with you there. As a Stoke fan, I've seen Wednesday fans telling us not to bother buying tickets (£35). Sounds like part of their protest may involve a pitch invasion, so while it might only be rumour or social media talk, I was expecting a more experienced SG2 official on the game. That said, Lewis Smith always looks to have a calm demeanour if such a situation does arise.
15
« on: Sun 10 Aug 2025 11:37 »
First time seeing Elliot Bell in person yesterday. I can see the makings of a decent referee. He seemed to be a calm and composed figure, dealing with any flash points fairly well and seemed willing to talk to control proceedings.
All three cautions were correct, potential argument that the Wilmot challenge was in the orange category. For that Wilmot incident, he did have a discussion over the comms with his assistant before deciding on yellow.
Overall, a positive showing and can see why he's risen to this level quite quickly.
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