By CCFC Sid
January 5 2004

Another large Boxing Day crowd filled Highfield Road and were treated (For want of a better word) to a game where the referee stole the headlines. 21,132 suffered an awful display from the official, and, sadly, this probably means those who were given tickets as a Christmas present won't be back. The referee wasn't the only official who didn't seem to have a clue, as one of CCFC's only really dangerous attacks in the first half was stopped by a linesman who did not seem to know that the whole ball has to cross the line for a throw-in to be awarded. At least this woke the near sell-out crowd, who had been silent for the first half an hour....

Suffo had stated that he was desperate to blame against his old side, though for long periods of the match did more to aid them than to oppose them. Sitters were missed, and most of the things he normally does so well, he didn't. Alongside him, I finally realised that all mentions of Julian Joachim's `lightening pace' are a myth. I have yet to see him beat an opposition defender more than once or twice a match - if that!

Once again, CCFC victories had resulted in `winning run', and/or `turned the corner' speeches, and once again CCFC made those words look foolish. They were no worse than SU (With neither team really managing to test the opposition keeper), and a draw would have been the fairest result. But alas....

For the second time this season, one-time potential CCFC signing Jack Lester stole the points for SU, scoring from the penalty spot after Konjic was adjudged to have fouled him (Though Ward couldn't have been much closer to saving it without actually saving it!). SU's shock at going a goal up when they were only playing for 0-0 resulted in some disgraceful time wasting antics (Especially players being substituted), but the referee failed to warn or yellow card anybody.

Five minutes later, one of the better CCFC players on the pitch, Warnock, was bizarrely substituted for Adebola - though Suffo would have been the choice of 99% of CCFC supporters! Suffo was finally taken off after 76 minutes, and replaced by Morrell.

Four minutes later the former Wrexham man was clean through, and quite clearly brought down by Jaglieka. A red card and a free-kick in a dangerous area should have been the outcome (With the SU defender making sure he stopped AM before he reached the penalty area), but the referee ignored CCFC appeals - a strange decision anyway, by a referee that had spent the first 80 minutes of the match making sure this game was a non-contact sport.

Late on, Staunton, whose delivery had been fairly dismal throughout, finally managed to take a decent corner, but Adebola wasted the chance. Soon after, a Joachim effort looked to set to be the equaliser, but Jaglieka (Who shouldn't even have been on the pitch) cleared off the line.

CCFC won a couple more corners in the dying minutes, with keeper Gavin Ward going forward in a bid to gain an equaliser. Sadly, a Konjic header which finally went goalwards, was saved by Kenny - though the ball did look as though it had crossed the line. A free-kick was awarded anyway, as the referee once again penalised CCFC for daring to challenge for the ball....