Bluebell Banter

3-0 to Oxford.

Alex Stanley sent off

4-0 to Oxford

Don't know if I'll be getting any more updates as the person who was texting me has gone into the bar for the rest of the match as he can't bear to watch any more of the match !!

Full Time Lost 4-0.

Apparantly Stanley's sending off was wrong. He chested it on the line but the ref thought he'd handled it. Matthews saved the penalty but the ref made Oxford take it again so they did and scored.

After that it was one way traffic.

Oh, and to cap a great day out we had our physio sent off too!!!

not sure a physio can be sent off.

I've certainly never seen a physio sent from the bench.
What would have happened if someone from Yate had been seriously injured?

Well, apparantly, in Oxford you can be sent off for hand ball even if your hand /arm doesn't make contact with the ball, so I'm sure that sending off a physio is quite a regular occurrence.

Seriously, as I understand the rules, a ref is responsible not only for the players on the pitch , the players off the pitch and the managers, he has jurisdiction every everyone inside a football stadium , including spectators and back room staff and so can send off anyone, including spectators etc, who break the rules of the game or encroach, illegally, upon the field of play.

But, as always, I could be wrong!!

BTW the sending off was after the final whistle,

Also in Oxford, you're allowed to drink your pint, sat at a patio table behind the goal whilst the game is going on.

I'll comment on the game once I've had a chance to digest the days events.

Look forward to that, Bodgit.

I have to say you are a courageous man for making the trip today. Fair play to you!!

If there is no one else qualified to take on the Physios duty in the dug out then the ref cannot send him off . So Yatesman your understanding of the rules is not right

You're right , I could be wrong.

Contrary to popular belief, if I get something wrong it's not the end of my world, I'll take it on the chin and get on with life, a little wiser for the experience.

However, the information I was given, by someone in attendance today, was that Steve Carter was sent off after the final whistle .

I await confirmation, or otherwise, of the alleged incident with baited breath.

In the meantime..... http://www.royals.org/stories/pso.html

And......... http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2006 ... edge.sport

So I checked on google and it said 80 miles door to door and as I’m not on call this weekend I thought why not. Oh dear oh dear.

Got to the ground to see the lads warming up. Despite the best attempts of Scotty and a few others, we looked like a team warming down after a hammering. Confidence is obviously very low and it showed even before the game.

The team was as follows.
Lee in goal. Back four of Alex, Kes, Scott and Ali, a midfield of Woody, Beadle, Joe and Ed, and a front two of Aaron and Jake. Dean obviously wasn’t ready to start after warming up with Lee and Meths was there but was looking really ill.

We started brightly and Scotty had a header from a free kick go inches wide.

We lost Beadle early to a high foot to the face which left him dazed and being helped off by the physio. Whitts had to come on and we now had a midfield of two strikers, a right back and a winger.

The team weren’t playing badly and it was fairly even until the first goal went in. Two minutes later Alex was sent off. I was the other end of the pitch, so I cannot say if he handled or not but it looked suspicious and the ref didn’t hesitate. Lee then made another fine stop of the first attempt from the spot but the ref had it retaken for some reason and Lee had no chance with the second go.

After the loss of Beadle and the sending off it became a bit of a practice match for Oxford with them able to keep possession and us unable to create a lot. Credit to those on the field has to be given because they didn’t give up and despite their appearance in the warm-up there was passion there even at the end.

Moggy was more vocal today and is obviously restricted by a lack of players and options to change things round. I don’t think we had a full bench and the squad appeared imbalanced with a lot of strikers and not many midfielders.

Steve Carter was indeed sent off as the teams left the pitch.

It was a frustrating day as we didn’t look that bad before the half hour despite the strange line up, but once they scored and we were down a man there was only going to be one result.

Like I said, you were a brave man to go up there on current form. The players we have won't keep us up. The mix of players, as you illustrated , is all wrong and there isn't enough quality especially when the going gets tough.
Sorry guys, but that is the bare faced fact. But we've known that for a while haven't we and however big a tub we thump as supporters that won't change .

Moggy's challenge is to bring in several new faces, and fast. And like I said in a previous post, not just players of a Step 3 standard. We need players who will hit the ground running and start winning matches ( you know winning, it's what the opposition always does). He needs to pull in some Conference and Football League standard players or we are doomed.....doomed I tell ya!

Where was Ali Gibb yesterday then, Bodgit ? And Hawkins! Any word on them? ( forget that question, I see now Ali was in the back 4......thought I'd better correct that quick before someone else trys to tell me how wrong I am again!!!)

Anyway, we just about have enough games to pull it around, but we can't keep saying that on the back of another 3-0 or 4-0 hammering, time is running out fast.

Cheers for confirming Steve Carter's dismissal. Looks like Physios can be sent off after all, but then I knew that anyway.... http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/RulesAndRegu ... 5/Law5.htm

Ali played right back. I guess to allow Ed to play centre midfield like he did in the second half against Cambridge. To be fair, Ali is a different class and could probably play almost anywhere in this team and he also tries to motivate and coach those around him during the game. I think Hawkins was on the bench but he didn't feature. Jordan came on for Aaron in the last five minutes.

We need to get something from the next two games for certain as the bottom four are now 6 points adrift and that gap will only grow if we don't keep pace.

Hopefully Moggy can get some experienced guys in as we need some direction from somewhere.

Yatesman where on rule 5 does it state that a ref CAN send a physio off during a game.