Sunday 1st July @ 2.30pm.
Our recent record counts for nothing on Sunday when we play top of the league.
Rowing Club from half 1ish.
As long as you lot don’t seek retribution against the coaches and Dads of th Under 8’s on the 14th :o
Witton Team;
GK - Johnson; DF - Marshall, Robinson; MF - Sc. Carter(c), Sh.Carter; FW - Green.
Subs - Jones, Prew, P.Carter (GK).
Team Rating ***
Match Rating ***
Man Of The Match - Tom Green.
n/b - Shaun Carter.
Witton tasted defeat for the first time in several weeks yesterday, as their crunch clash with GSE decended into chaos minutes before the final whistle.
Despite the much-needed boost of the return of Robinson and Marshall to the Witton defense, the boys in red and white were unusually slow out of the blocks. Within 3 or 4 minutes Witton found themselves 2 nil down. First off Johnson was beaten from distance by a shot that seemed to move in the air as it followed it’s goalbound trajectory, and then just moments later GSE were allowed to advance too far up the pitch without a telling tackle being made, before one of their professional ASBOs managed to slot the ball home for 2 nil.
Unpeturbed Witton battled back into the game. Despite being on the receiving end of a veritble plethora of illegal and late challenges - with no protection forthcoming from the referee - Albion managed to move the ball about with the fluidity that spectators have recently become so familiar with. It only appeared to be a matter of time until Witton fought their way back into the match. Once again the goal was straight out of the top drawer, with the ball moving up the pitch with the smoothness of Greg’s lower leg (immac??). Finally the ball was at the feet of Green, who clinically despatched the ball into the net for his 11th goal of a very productive season. This however was not to be Green’s most telling influence of the afternoon’s proceedings…
At 2 - 1 Witton began to turn the game in their favour, chance after chance was fashioned as the first half drew to a close, and then chance and chance again as the second half began. The silky attacking foursome of Green, Prew, and the 2 Carters were interchanging with an uncanny level of understanding, not seen since the heady days of about 3 weeks ago. An equalising goal was angonisingly out of their reach though, and with tiredness setting in GSE pounced to make it 3 - 1.
At this point, with the game looking like petering out with no further incident, the stocky figue of Green could be seen to be visably tiring of the underhand tactics employed by the opposition, and as yet another foul on a young Carter went unpunished the big-man decided to take the law in to his own hands. As the GSE attacker danced past Green, young Thomas seized the opportunity to sweep the legs from under his opponent - almost breaking the electronic-tag attached to said opponents ankle. The young ASBO lept straight to his feet and swung a mis-directed punch in Green’s direction. The punch failed to land, and before you could say ‘badger botherer’ Johnson had thrown the GSE attacker to the floor. With red cards being brandished like confetti to Green and Johnson, there was a mild scuffle containing most of the 15 or so players in attendance. As he dust settled, a further red was brandished in Jones’ direction as the un-used sub made some choice remarks in the direction of the Graham Poll-like official.
So the match was abandoned with Witton losing 3 - 1. Not the best day at the office, but again a decent performance for the bulk of the match. There are sure to be some cross words exchanged during tomorrow evening’s training session, but as the sun sets on yet another turbulent weekend for the Albion there will be immeasurable relief that the red cards do not result in any further bans for the 3 offenders.
Much needed return of Robinson and Marshall.
I guess Me and Scott keeping a clean sheet last week is not good enough.
Would hardly say it was a much needed boost. We couldn’t have done any better than keep a clean sheet.
I think some of us should have a think about who we are representing when we talk about referees. We do not want the name of Witton Albion dragged through the mud just because of a few decisions. Yes i agree, he didn’t have a good game but we are lucky not to have been banned or kicked out of the league.
My actions, as well as those of my team-mates were not acceptable, and I apologised to Robbo after the game.
What isn’t acceptable is that the referee very clearly has a vendetta against us, and me in particular. You might say this is understandable due to some of the silly incidents that have happened this season, but look at the facts:
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The game against AFC - he gives us zero protection and blows up early. He then tells me he "can do what he likes" and then he expects us to accept that?!
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2 weeks ago I get a forearm to the face, as intentional as you like, and therefore as no foul was given i go and exact my own revenge with a late challenge. If the foul gets given and the yellow card gets handed out, nothing happens. But he "didn’t see anything" and being the big man he is ;D tell our players how he wanted to send me off but didnt.
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On Sunday I get tackled abouve the knee by one of their players and nothing happens "i didn’t see it" says the referee. Shaun Carter gets pushed, kicked, tripped all over the pitch, as does Graham. "i didn’t see it" says the referee on each occasion. Tempers fray, and i commit a stupid foul, which is a bookable offence. He sees this clearly, but "didn’t see" their player taking a swing at me as he was "too busy getting my cards out to send your player off" (for a foul, my first offence. No raised feet, no stamp, just late), nor does he see anything else their player subsequently does in the melee. But he very clearly sees Dave Johnson push their player straight after he took a swing at me and sends him off, and he sends Stu off for dissent, which is only a bookable offence. Stu didn’t swear and by this point he is clearly enjoying his moment. No action is taken against their player. Not even a yellow card or a reprimand of any kind. He clearly lets previous grudges and transgressions carry over into subsequent games, and that is outrageous.
It stinks, and I for one will not play again while that prat is in charge.
[i]"Much needed return of Robinson and Marshall.
I guess Me and Scott keeping a clean sheet last week is not good enough.
Would hardly say it was a much needed boost. We couldn’t have done any better than keep a clean sheet."[/i]
To clarify, Scott kept his place on Sunday as would Simon of if he hadn’t declared hmself unfit just prior to kick-off. However, a clean sheet against Northwich United isn’t unusual. The 2 prior clean sheets (including our first of the season), and an excellent rear-guard performance against 2nd placed KFC, were at least equal acheviements, and i was therefore justified in restoring myself and Greg to the starting VI.
In regards o the refereeing incidents, i have told several players in the past - including Greenie - that insulting the ref will do us no favours in the long-run. Maybe Sunday was his retribution. However, the amount of late tackles he let go, the amount of kicks and pushes he ignored, was just unacceptable. He penalised DJ for not rolling the ball out correctly, but lets them kick us black and blue. That is just petty, and potentially dangerous. As i told the ref after the game on Sunday, his inability to take the sting out of the game earlier on was what led to the scenes at the end of the match. I can’t condone what Greenie, DJ, or Stu did - but it never would of happened if the ref had of been fair on us.
I’ve put a fair bit of time into getting this team up and running, i’ve tried to get as many people involved as possible. We’ve had Jim Vince playing with us, we’ve had use of Witton’s facilities and kit. We’ve had Mike Moseley play for us. We’ve got a profile-raising friendly arranged for the 14th July. There are a lot of positives to take from something that was just a suggestion i made one night in the pub. However, if something that has brought so may people together is now going to decend into back-biting, criticism, moaning, groaning, whining, whinging, and is ultimately going to cause people to start falling out then i would rather scrap the whole thing now.
I didn’t set this thing up to get thanks, or praise, or anything else. But i wouldn’t mind a bit of respect, and i don’t appreciate being moaned about when all i’m trying to do is get a few like-minded people together for a bit of a laugh. Right now it feels as though the team is starting to implode at the point when we are finally starting to put some performances together.
People need to have a look at what they want from this and decide whether they want to carry it on or not. If it carries on then it doesn’t need to be something that i am accountable for, anybody else is welcome to take over. I never did it from the desire to run a team, i just did it to get my mates together every week for a bit of fun. I acheived that so i’m pretty pleased with myself for that. Where it goes from here is up to everyone who has played a part up till this point.
Good post Robbo.
The Supporters Team can only be a good thing and hats off to Robbo for all the work put in. The frustration in the quality of refereeing is obvious however don’t expect it to get any better at that level!!! Staying disciplined is important, bad challenges and scuffles with the opposition will only add to the frustration and lead to bans and a bad reputation.
Surely the focus needs to return to improving the skills of the team and quality of the performanes. Beat the opposition up with our football and not fists! Above all for this to continue successfully the team has to play for one another, that is the benchmark of any team.
It would be a shame for this to turn sour now when there is lots of reasons to keep it going, with players, the manager and others getting involved the momentum is there. If we clean our own act up then any complaints we want to make in a few weeks time regarding the standard of the refs will be better received.
My opinion for what it is worth.
I agree wholeheartedly with that statement, but we are turning two different issues into one here. Lets not confuse the two.
Issue 1 is the players relationship with the Manager. The comments posted earlier by one of the players were out of order, however, Robbo does have a penchant for taking the Michael out of people in his match reports. This will, from time to time, touch a nerve with someone so maybe Robbo needs to think about who he might annoy before he writes. I personally take it all in good humour, others may not. Players will not respect a manager if they feel that he is belittling his performances or achievements. At any level. I’m not having a go, just highlighting a problem.
Issue 2 is the discipline on the pitch. As captain, I feel responsible for what is happening to the players and I cannot stand by and let potentially dangerous challenges go unpunished, especially on a 16 year old lad. If the referee won’t do something about it then sometimes you have to settle things the old fashioned way. The reaction of my team-mates on Sunday tells me all I need to know about our team. I got into a confrontation with an opponent and several of my colleagues stood shoulder to shoulder with me. That spirit should be commended, not derided. It was an unfortuate occurance, but the togetherness of the team surely cannot be brought into question.
We play good football, we try to win the right way. But if it gets rough, we will stand up for each other. That is what it means to be a member of a team.
I don’t think there was any belittling carried out in the above report? But i must admit to not running ‘Belittling Checker’ before posting :o
If anybody does have an issue with anything then they have my number, they can call me and it can be removed. No big deal.
However, the match reports are what they are, it’s my light-hearted take on the afternoon’s proceedings. If they are causing a rift, i’ll stop doing them. Simple enough stuff really.
As mentioned earlier, i was under the impression we were all mates? Therefore anything thats needs to be said doesn’t need airing on here. Everyone knows where each other lives, not hard pop round for a brew is it?
In regards to the discipline, there is absolutely 100% no defense for it what-so-ever. It’s not acceptable. We stick up for each other because we are friends. The problem is that as a team we should of avoided the confrontation and taken the issue up with the ref after the game. It’s gone now, so let’s put it to bed and make sure we deal with it better in future.
I am not having a go at people for standing up for themselves or their team mates. In fact i think it is a good thing as it shows the bond that has formed between the players.
What i am saying is that calling the ref a f**g c is not going to get him to change his mind and will only land us in big trouble.
He did say to me and Greg after the last game that was played on Sunday that he was going to report the whole team to the Cheshire FA and that we would all get 35 day bans, this was down to the abuse given to him. After 10 mins of discussion we managed to get him to recind all 3 cards that were given to those concerned. He did also admit he had made a mistake in not sending their player off.
We are going to jeopardise the hard work that Robbo and others have put into the formation and admin duties of the team if we do not control ourselves when speaking, or in our case at times verbally abusing the referee. He is not going to stand for it.
By the way Robbo, i know your not use to me doing it but i was taking the piss about your return to the side.
Si’s comments are bang on regards the discipline, you could not walk up to a manager at work and call him a f****** anything without expecting the sack for gross misconduct. A bit of self discipline is what is missing by the looks of things, difficult as that may be to swallow.
Greenie I have to disagree with your ‘Issue 2’, the fact that everyone joined in the fight is not a great indication of team spirit. A better indication would have been for someone to have diffused the situation and for the game to restart! Togtherness is one thing, scrapping as a group is another! Don’t get me wrong I would never stand by and watch a mate take a punch without getting involved, I agree that sometimes this kind of situation is unavoidable. However it sounds like we created the problem! Even if you were wrong Greenie I would still fight your cause in a situation where punches were been thrown, but that does not mean I would agree with the way it had come about. Do you understand the difference?
As Si said in an earlier post the there is a responsibility to represent Witton’s name appropriately. At the moment the first reaction to a bad challenge that goes unpunished is to put in a worse challenge to make a point, not a particularly clever response.
Everyone I know on the team is an intelligent lad, the point being they know the difference between what is acceptable and what is not. Out of repsect to Robbo who has managed the team so far he should be the one who calls it. If the team don’t want Robbo as the manager then come the end of the season take a vote for someone else to run it. Right now he is probably wondering if it is worth the hassle!
I agree Rabbit that a bad challenge to make a point is foolish. However, when you are desperate to win, you and your team have ran their hearts out and been kicked all over the park for their troubles, it gradually escalates until the inevitable flashpoint. At that point on Sunday, everybody unleashed their frustration rather than just one or two people, and that tells me that the game was controlled poorly. The referee constantly got crucial decisions wrong, including the colour of the cards handed out, and their recipients.
The verbal battering of the ref is the part that needs curbing. If the ref gets it wrong, we say nothing.
I learned my lesson from earlier in the season when I had a run in with the same referee and I have spent great portions of most games telling people not to have a go at him. On Sunday I tried my best to calm DJ down then when I was sent off I left the pitch as I have to. However, I was so incensed that the referee had failed to send their lad off that I had to make my point after he had abandoned the match. I asked the referee why he hadn’t sent him off, I told him he had got it wrong, and he was the cause of the whole incident. I gathered my belongings and walked off the pitch with SG. It is disappointing that the arguing continued beyond this point, and the personal nature of the insults thrown at the referee from the lads who remained is completely out of order.
Aside from that, when I was refereeing I officiated in many games, as a ref, a linesman and as a fourth official and I can tell you, I took some stick. Liam Brady once called me a ct. Keith Alexander also called me a Wittoner when I was fourth official at a V*cs V Chester game in the Conference. He must have had a premonition. You expect abuse and if you deserve it you take it on the chin. But do you know what makes a referees job a million times easier and gains you a lot of respect quickly? Admitting you are wrong and apologising. Off your own back, rather than being pushed into a half hearted apology by some of the players. Unfortunately the pompous little she who referees us is not man enough to hold his hands up. He’s also never man enough (luckily) to follow through with his hollow threats of sendings off and reporting us and others to the FA. And this is why game after game that he officiates in descends into anarchy.
For the record, there was a fight in the game after ours. A 2-footed sliding tackle (ANY sliding tackle is illegal in 6’s) went unpunished in the game after that.
Anyway, drop it now!!
SG, cheers for clarifying your earlier post. It’s been an emotional few days!!
See everyone later.
If its a disciplinary problem - Gary Finlay’s still available 
Letter received from the League today. Official warning.
That is something we can do, WHEN we have the moral high ground.
No, No dont ever complain to the FA about a ref it opens up a whole can of worms and the team always comes off worse.
Correct Grazzer. Questioning the Referee to the FA is, in their eyes, questioning the whole integrity of their organisation and the game in general and they won’t stand for it.