Bluebell Banter

NOt exactly a vintage performance and I won't be raving about it like I was last week.

The game was spoiled by the ref and , even though I didn't see the incident, according to others the sending off of Reynolds was farcical. Two Andover players collided and one went down injured. Reynolds jumped at the same time and was judged to have caused the player's injury. All through the match the ref was looking for the limelight and as a result the game didn't flow and too many players got unnecessary bookings.

In the end though it was a point well won as we were down to 10 men for much of the 2nd half. However, it wasn't a particularly enjoyable game of football .

Yatesman, I don't think 'anyone' saw the incident as there wasn't an incident to see. As you said, Burt went to jump with 2 Andover players, they collided, one cried out and the ref brandishes a straight red to him - totally unbelievable & completely bizarre. I would be interested to know if either Edd or Moggy actually got an explanation from that self-opinionated idiot of a ref why anything in that "incident" warranted a straight red for "anyone" involved, let alone a yellow card. Surely an appeal is going in on this one.

It was a real pity, cos IMHO I thought we were just beginning to string one or two moves together and showed signs of dragging the game out of its mediocrity. Instead we then had to sacrifice attacking options and stick it out for a hard-earned point. Never mind, we are showing real character in recent games which is really good to see.

Makes you realise what a good point that was at Paulton when you see they are now in the hat for the FA Cup 1st Round Proper after a cracking result for them against Chippenham today.

Agree with both comments made above - I know being a ref nowadays is thankless task, but if your gonna do it at least try and do it well.

You could tell from the first 5 mins that he was one of those refs who wanted to be a part of the game - in my opinion, a sign of a good ref is when they let the game flow, and don't stop and talk to a player every time a foul is made.

As for the sending off - shocking. We were playing some really good stuff when we were reduced to 10 men, and I honestly belive that we would have won the game. I assume the suspension kicks in straight away, which is a shame as 2 big games next week.

Player of the match - Ed Vahid, he was everywhere yesterday !

Agree with that G.H.

Vahid put in a great shift, but then he had to as our no.4 was totally out of his depth in that central midfield position and spent the whole match, up until he was subbed, chasing shadows.

As you say, 2nd half we came out all guns blazing and imposed ourselves on the game and would most llikely have gone on to secure all three points had the ref not decided to over react .

Have to say what a great goal Reynolds scored again. Good to see him starting to hit the back of the net regularly now. As for his ban, I'm not sure when that starts.

After Saturday hopefully !

Have to say the red card really took the wind out of our sails.After a pretty average first half,we were by far the better side, and i think with a full compliment we could have scored a few.

I agree with the comment about Jason Burt.He cant be faulted for effort,but my heart sank when i realised he was starting alongside Ed.On the few occasions he got on the ball his passing showed no confidence and no imagination.Once again,the game just passed him by.I'm hoping Adi Adams might be the answer,but i'm told he hasn't played any football for quite a while.