LWJZipLWJ Qualified ref, so know a bit more than most.... he will have to answer why he gave a foul or no foul for every decision. Any KMI’s he missed mean he can’t score over average, too many marks below average and he will be moved to lesser games.
His management of the Murphy challenge meant he had to book 5 players and send one off. It’s a challenge you could see coming from a mile off and the aftermath was preventable
Forest imploded. That’s not the ref’s fault. He warned them. At one stage he called Fox over and made clear that Colback was on the brink of being sent off. Colback was already on a yellow and then got in the ref’s face. Sensible refereeing. No one is complaining about the sendings off and both Forest players apologised to their team mates. He made the right calls. He won’t be marked down imo.
He missed one definite straight red(Murphy), and a potential other one (Fox). There would be no brawl if he is in there quickly with a red. He wasn’t. There is absolutely no reason he needed to give 5 cards out, except his lack of control. He managed it poorly and then got the decision wrong.
I’m not basing this off guess work, I’m basing this off knowing exactly how he should have managed it.
As he was walking over he was reaching for his hip pocket and I was sure he was about to show Murphy a straight red. Then the scuffle breaks out and he bottles it, probably because he knows he's got to send Fox off. If he'd just got the red card out straight away it would have prevented the unnecessary aftermath.
). You never know, if health permits, I may even shell out a few quid and get along to another match this season - although that generally coincides with a home defeat so perhaps best if I stayed away!
