RateTheRef

Bond has gone off at Huddersfield after 29 mins with a reported hamstring issue - Reeves on to replace.

Thought Reeves looked alright. All four cautions were justified. Think I'm right in saying that Bond didn't give a FK for a foul in the 23 minutes he was on for - only offsides. Hopefully, went off as a precaution with what looked like a hamstring problem - a few games on VAR should do the trick.

As many have said - thought it was a foul by Gordon on Alexander-Arnold for the first caution, so Brooks has put himself under pressure when the foul happens moments later.

Think Brooks have been sloppy and inconsistent. Joelinton lucky to escape a caution - caught a Liverpool late when he played an advantage, Joelinton commits another foul, when he speaks to him, only for a third foul a minute or so later.

All for referees clamping down on things with the new directives, but get the basics right first.

I think the second Pearson card was for dissent. Furlong let the ball hit him twice, Woolmer spoke to Pearson, so Furlong trudged to the halfway line, then strolled back to take the throw - while Pearson gave Woolmer another ear bashing resulting in the second yellow & red - all a bit of a farce. Could have been handled so much better by a stronger, more proactive ref.

A game that needed a strong referee, got one who struggled throughout - random foul detection & sanctions, no control/authority and it ended up with players taking it into their own hands.

In the first 10 mins, he gave a corner wrongly to Stoke when 10-15 yards from play, only for an assistant to tell him to reverse his decision to the correct one from the other side of the pitch. That set the tone.

Too many times West Brom players nudged or backed into a Stoke player when they were in mid air. This resulted in an injury to Hoever, which looked like a winding from a heavy landing, soon ran it off. But there was a serious injury to Ben Wilmot, who landed on his neck/head. Wilmot down but Woolmer strolled over casually before waving the medical team on - a few mins later they were gesturing for a stretcher for Woolmer to be wagging his finger at them. The stretcher was eventually allowed on and Wilmot carried off with oxygen. Still waiting for assessment at hospital.

Woolmer lost the plot from there giving soft free-kicks for minimal contact then missing obvious heavy challenges. And did very little about the time-wasting that saw him decide to show Ben Pearson a second yellow for a) taking it into his own hands by throwing the ball at Furlong twice, who just let it hit him and bounce back to delay the restart - no sanctions for Furlong's actions & b) dissent.

It's the third time I've seen him this year and they've all been below par but this one was seriously concerning as he was endangering the safety of the players with some of his decision making, or at times, lack of it. He struggles to get around the pitch and is too far from incidents.

The fact the managers described him as the pantomime villain and Alex Neil saying "one of the worst refereeing performances in senior football" summed up it.

Good luck to the Exeter and Derby players on Tuesday night, you'll need it if he's as inept as he was today.

Was half expecting one of Stoke's two matches this Easter to be used as a trial game given they both look to be mid-table dead rubbers alas.

Seen Whitestone on 4O duties a lot lately, but doesn't seem to have had a middle for a few weeks. Everything alright with him? One of the safer pair of hands at this level.

I only saw this first half of this but didn't see what all the Sunderland fans social media fuss was about. Roberts went down far too easily in the box, could have easily been booked for simulation. Good spot from Whitestone not to give it.

Then for the Diallo card referenced above, Whitestone allows him to continue his run towards the area until he's upended by Eccles. That trip gets a reaction from Diallo and several Sunderland players - mainly defenders charging 25+ yards to get involved rather unnecessarily. Eccles rightly booked for the foul, Diallo booked for his reaction. Overall, seemed a very tetchy first 45 minutes, mainly due to poor player behaviour rather than the referee's performance.

Would imagine there'll be an FA charge on it's way to Sunderland for failing to control their players.

Sorry if this has been mentioned/discussed elsewhere: Does anybody know what's happened to Ollie Langford? Haven't seen his name for a few weeks. Seems like his last outing was Swansea v Burnley (02/01/23).

Also, has there been an update about Andy Davies after his injury in Wigan v Blackpool?

I saw Carl at Crewe Alex earlier in the season and thought he was very good, and a considerably better performance from him than from SG2 David Webb who also came to Gresty Road earlier in the season.

Saw parts of this game and liked Brook's style of refereeing, which kept a lid on things. As you mention Webb, who I've seen today, wait until you see his howler of a penalty decision! I say howler despite it massively favouring my team.