Back from the game Ipswich (A)

[Wimb]

Ok so not back yet, more sat in the car on the way home....

On the iPhone so will keep it brief, good performance overall and I have no doubt we would have won the game if we had 11 men. The biggest dissapointment is not how we played but the fact we let such a winnable game slip through our grasp.

For the red card I can't really say much but my initial opinion was that it was very harsh. The ref was pretty awful throughout the game and once again a premier league wannabe has tried to get himself noticed.

Player wise...

Fed - 8 made some good saves and set up some good attacking moves.
Griffin -7 steady as usual
plastic -6 made some key mistakes and could have done better for the 2nd
Mills -5 looked ok before the sending off but his distribution was poor again
kizi - 7 did what he needed to do
Maccer -6 ran about but little end product
kebe -6 tried hard but kept falling over and wasted a big chance
gunnar - 5 looked like he would be the one sent off
Howard -7 good game for him, passing looked good
Sig -6 nice goal otherwise his set pieces were awful
long -6 tried hard not much luck

church - 6 same as long
pearce - 6 looked ok
hrk - not enough time to make a real impact

[Norfolk Royal]

I am actually back from the game and feel like launching into a rant about it, but I'll keep it level headed.

We started well, stroking it about nicely without really threatening, and it all seemed hunky dory. Kebe was up against the shortest left back I've ever seen in Jamie Peters and I thought; 'Uh huh, he'll have some joy there today.'

Cue Peters having Kebe in his pocket for the whole 90 minutes.

The sending off changed the complexion of the game completely. From my view of it, Mills and the Ipswich player both stretched for a 50-50 challenge. The Ipswich player seemed to get the worst of it but it did not appear that Mills went over the top and he appeared to win the ball fair and square.

Although the players did all gather round I don't think the Ipswich players were particularly calling for Mills to go.

But the ref came running over reaching for his pocket and the red card was duly brandished. Very harsh.

This threw our defence into total disarray as Pearce came on. Ipswich spotted this and slung over two decent balls which we defended poorly, particularly the corner where Mcauley got virtually a free header on the six yard line, and that was that.

The ref, very short and effete, was very, very, poor, not just for us but for both sides.

That would be OK were it not for the major decision, the sending off of Mills, which altered the course of the game.

I don't get to many games these days and was really looking forward to it, and particularly wanted to see Mills play. It cost £31 for a ticket and the ref ruined it as a spectacle. That's poor.

It is also poor when Bertrand ran along the byline of the Ipswich penalty area with an Ipswich player tugging on his shirt all the way, and the ref or linesman fail to spot it.

Top marks to the lads who came up with the 'Keano, he w*nks his dog you know,' chant, which would have been hilarious in normal circumstances apart from the fact I took my 11-year old daughter to her first away game. Try explaining that one.

All in all, the usual Ipswich experience.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Top marks to the lads who came up with the 'Keano, he w*nks his dog you know,' chant, which would have been hilarious in normal circumstances apart from the fact I took my 11-year old daughter to her first away game. Try explaining that one.

All in all, the usual Ipswich experience.

ALOL, yeah, we've all been there (trying to explain things to the kids and going to Ipswich..that is).

£31 to watch Ipswich this season? how can they justify that?

......or was it just yet another away fan "stitch-up"?

[Norfolk Royal]

Top marks to the lads who came up with the 'Keano, he w*nks his dog you know,' chant, which would have been hilarious in normal circumstances apart from the fact I took my 11-year old daughter to her first away game. Try explaining that one.

All in all, the usual Ipswich experience.

ALOL, yeah, we've all been there (trying to explain things to the kids and going to Ipswich..that is).

£31 to watch Ipswich this season? how can they justify that?

......or was it just yet another away fan "stitch-up"?

I don't think home fans are charged that much, so an away fan stitch up yes. The stewarding was a bit pernickety and the price of the hot dogs was extortionate.

[AthleticoSpizz]

what a shame....but 31bloody £'s?

at this level...that's mad stuff


but then, they do have Roseniors wages to fund I guess

[biscuitman]

Definitely getting the FSF involved here. Home end was 10 quid in most places for adults.

[AthleticoSpizz]

......and far from a top-of-the-league clash of the titans

go for it Biscuit

[BenReadingFC]

Sig's Free-Kick Goal

[AthleticoSpizz]

Sig's Free-Kick Goal

nice goal and pretty good camera-age

Thnx Ben

[leww_rfc]

Sig's Free-Kick Goal

Cheers, Good Footage, Very Nice Finish!

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

Sig's Free-Kick Goal

That's great camera work mate.

Bet it's better than the BBC's footage. Though I'm pretty sure Ipswich have got some pretty fancy in house set up with multi angles.

[weybridgewanderer]

Just home, really really frustrated. £31 to get in, no trains in and out of Liverpool Street so buses, undergrounds, choping and changing in the arse end of deepest darkest essex, and the game looks to have been spoilled a ref that is, yet again,out to make himself the start attraction.

The "refwatch" thread did point out prior to the game that this clown almost always sends off a player in any game of ours he referees. We even had Mills sent off the last time Stroud was meant to ref us (away at donacaster) despite the him not officiating that day.

Ipswich were dire, yet walk away with 3 points. I need to see the incident again but it looked to me like Mills kept his feet on the ground and won the ball.

2 quick goals at the end of the first half as we were still trying to sort out our defending.

We won the second half depsite their player advantage.

[AthleticoSpizz]

£31 says it all

disgraceful hosting

[Dirk Gently]

Definitely getting the FSF involved here. Home end was 10 quid in most places for adults.

The FSF will probably respond with the below text which covers this situation :

The situation in this case is one of what the Football League call "local promotions" - this is when a club is allowed to run a special discount scheme and not pass that discount on to away supporters - and each club is allowed to run these "local promotions" four times a season only.

The actual rule on this is Football League rule 31.2.11 which says :
"Discounts or special promotions (in each case for one match only) made available to supporters of the the Home Club must also be made available on a similar basis to visiting supporters provided always that each Club shall be permitted to designate four (4) matches per season as 'local promotion' Matches where this regulation shall be deemed not to apply."

Sadly, these rules are not online, just published in the FL's paper rule book.

The FSF's policy is to oppose this rule on local promotions, and the actual officers of the FL are unhappy about the existence of this rule - but a number of clubs like the rule and as the clubs make the rules then sadly it's with us at the moment. The rationale used is that such local promotion s will sometimes be funded by local companies, and the aim of them is to build up long-term support, so why should the discounts be passed on to away supporters who will not come back to the club - but we certainly do not feel that this is an acceptable excuse.

[North Somerset Royal]

Great shame as I think we would have won this if Matt had not been sent off for a challenge that was no more than a yellow if that. If he gets a 4 match ban then I think its the end of our season as Pearce proved once again that he is not good enough for this level and with Ingi out for the season we will be up against it.

[T.R.O.L.I.]

If we're talking about getting the FSF involved, how about looking at the stewards who threw the young lad behind me out at HT - complete over-reaction considering he'd done no more than the other 200 of us at the back.

And why it took 5 of them to throw him out is beyond me.

[Rex]

What was he kicked out for Troli. I missed that, other that seeing Handbags get removed just before HT.

[T.R.O.L.I.]

As for the football. Well, I didn't think the ineptitude by Andy D'Urso last week could be beaten, but boy was I wrong. Mr Stroud, you are a disgrace to football.

An extremely harsh red IMO for what was a 50/50 challenge and one that, at worst, Mills was fractionally late. This was the culmination of some very strange decisions - the tug back on Bertrand as alluded to above, the scything down of Griffin (?) whilst he was shepherding the ball out that went unpunished to name but two. To compond the misery, I felt there was also a foul on Bertrand in the lead up to their second goal.

A very frustrating game as I felt we were well on top up to the red card and still had chances throughout the rest of the game. The overriding feeling though is that the team look tired so it might be an idea to freshen it up for Monday.

CBA to do ratings but I will say that both Church and HRK gave good accounts of themselves when they came off the becnch.

[T.R.O.L.I.]

What was he kicked out for Troli. I missed that, other that seeing Handbags get removed just before HT.

Dunno - the stewards, unsuprisingly, wouldn't give any details other than he'd been seen on camera doing something.

What did Handbags get thrown out for?

[T.R.O.L.I.]

Top marks to the lads who came up with the 'Keano, he w*nks his dog you know,' chant, which would have been hilarious in normal circumstances apart from the fact I took my 11-year old daughter to her first away game. Try explaining that one.

TBF, NR, it was a fairly mild set of songs / chants today (other than those aimed and the referee). The one you have alluded to above was always likely to be aired though.

As an aside, and as Boyband and I were discussing at half time, it brought back memories of Sam Jacks before our game with Newcastle two years ago where the whole pub (both Royals and Geordies) was singing it with great aplomb