By CCFC Sid
November 4 2004

Twenty-four hours after as shocking a refereeing display as you would wish NOT to see, I am still to find anybody that has anything decent to say about his mis-handling of last nights match - though Eddie Lewis might disagree.... If he who shall not be named made more than half-a-dozen correct calls throughout the 90 minutes, then Veron was a success at Manchester United and Chelsea. And, if I thought there would be a equally or more inept refereeing display suffered at Highfield Road this season, I wouldn't bother going along....

It was recognised by most that Preston's game plan was to pick the tallest XI players available to them, then try to keep the ball in the air as much as possible - at times it was like the footballing equivalent of watching Ronnie Corbett and Jeanette Krankie taking on the Harlem Globetrotters....

The first half was pretty dire stuff, with Preston, having failed to win in seventeen away matches, looking as if they would play for the draw from the off - with anything more than that a bonus....

As with the Reading match, CCFC started slowly, and PNE missed a decent chance to take the lead in the opening minutes of the match. Having hit them for three in the first 15 minutes of this fixture last season, giving them a head-start was obviously in CCFC's thoughts....

At the other end of the pitch, a succession of Doyle corners caused Ward all sorts of problems, though no CCFC player was able to prod the chances that came their way home. Wasteful.

Another PNE tactic that was clear to all was their, "hoof it anywhere, as long as it's 50 yards further up the pitch when it lands" stance where corners and deep free-kicks were concerned. Dull, but effective....

In the 25th minute, a decent CCFC effort - a Suffo header! (Badges in the shops soon!) - was heading towards goal, only to be cleared off the line by Coventry born Graham Alexander. The referee had already blown his whistle, though in keeping with the rest of the match, it's doubtful there was actually any infringement.

Suffo was responsible for most shots CCFC had (Though did little to suggest Stern John will have to fight to re-gain his shirt when over his injury), and also failed with an attempted Beckham-esque lob from distance. His effort was closer to me in the stands than Ward in the PNE goal...

PNE then missed a glorious chance to take the lead, but, despite being in acres of space, they somehow managed to miss the target .... though the ball did manage to stay inside the stadium!

A sleepy Highfield Road crowd was woken minutes before half-time, as elbowing Andy Morrell was classed as acceptable by the nights referee (Failure to show a red card to said player was made all the more galling, after he went on to score PNE's equaliser), but Andy Morrell getting near an opponent minutes later was deemed a bookable offence.

The man on the end of Andy Morrell's near challenge, Brian O'Neill, decided he wasn't dead after all, and rose to his feet in a way not seen probably for 2004 years. As the Main Stand rose to give him much deserved abuse, he appeared to react, either having a go at Adrian Heath, or at the few thousand people not happy with his "apparent" conning of the referee....

CCFC were awarded a penalty four minutes into the second half, after Andy Morrell was cynically brought down in the area - though unbelievably, the referee failed to show any card to the villlain of the piece! (The same player also avoided a caution for deliberately handling the ball later on in the match). With Suffo having dispatched the penalty in fine style, the referee then decided to ban CCFC from the PNE penalty area!

He also failed to produce any card when Ricketts was brought down on the edge of the area, with the loan player getting in front of the last defender, and the ball clearly not won. Bottle job....

McSheffrey replaced Ricketts soon after (Ricketts had signalled to the bench some minute earlier), though had Ricketts just changed his boots instead, he might have had more of an impact on the game. Are CCFC really so poor that the players only have one pair each? Certain players failure to stand up properly has now gone on for at least three matches!

Eddie Johnson thought he had continued his recent impressive scoring form, smashing the ball home from 10 yards after 66 minutes, but the referee decided that somewhere in the world an offence was probably being committed, so cancelled it out. Whether or not if would have been disallowed had anybody else scored it is unknown, but just being Eddy Johnson appeared to be a crime in the referee's eyes - though smacking said player around the park seemed to be acceptable.

Soon after, PNE equalised, and, while it was a fine strike, as has been written, it was scored by a player that should have been showered and changed by this time.

With the referee doing everything possible to kill the game as an enjoyable event, a second CCFC goal never looked on the cards, until a poor Doyle corner somehow arrived at the feet of Williams, who smashed the ball just wide.

Shaw replaced Laville soon after, and the usually reliable ageing defenders' first contribution was set PNE on their way with a poor piece of play. Thankfully PNE blew the chance to take the lead, and possibly send them on their way to a rare away victory.

Hughes saw a fine free-kick just miss the angle of post and bar minutes before the end (After Johnson was once again on the end of a shocking challenge), as CCFC's winning streak (One match!) came to an end - though with the idiot with the whistle seemingly wearing a PNE kit under his own strip, a draw was as good as CCFC were ever likely to get....

If the League don't make referee's and officials watch their performances back after matches, and explain why and how they come to certain decisions, I would suggest they start now....