Disgrace

[taunton_gull]

Some interesting points raised here. The referee wasn't fit enough to do the job. As someone else confirmed he definately awarded a free kick to us following the Goodwin incident.

I was in the bench today but spotted exactly the same thing as well. Obviously I didn't have a view as to whether there was an elbow from Goodwin or not but Sutton definitely blew for a Torquay free kick, saw the Newport player grab his head and roll around on the floor and then decided to give the free kick the other way and send Goodwin off. Just an incredible moment in the game. Sadly this is what we've come to expect this season so I wasn't surprised at the outcome. Like most I just want to get it over and done with and hope that there is still a club to support next season in the conference.

[PlainmoorRoar]

The Ref actually smiled at Zebs when he put his finger to his lips to silence those Torquay fans who had called him a wa&!£r. The Ref clearly wasn't concerned about Newport players enticing the home fans. Lee Minshull ( the Newport player who was "knocked over" by Shamir ) actually winked at the Torquay fans after Shamir was sent off. I also felt that Flynn ( Newport Captain ) was influential in the Ref's decision to send off Shamir.

Forgot about that stuff, minshull persistently fouled and only got booked late on after foul 300!!

The incident with Pearce near the end was dreadful refereeing again

[harbertongull]

Have we had any major decisions go our way this season? No! I've seen us have at least two definate penalty shouts turned down in recent weeks. Refereeing looks poor these days, once again the officials are the main talking point, says it aĺl really. I don't think we played too badly today let's remember we played most of the match 10 against 12!

[DevonYellow]

Have we had any major decisions go our way this season? No! I've seen us have at least two definate penalty shouts turned down in recent weeks. Refereeing looks poor these days, once again the officials are the main talking point, says it aĺl really. I don't think we played too badly today let's remember we played most of the match 10 against 12!

The penalty at home to Exeter? Unfortunately Karl Hawley was on spot kick duty that day!

[PL21gull]

Yes the ref thought only the home team committed fouls, yes we lost to a deflected goal, yes we put in a mostly spirited performance, but we lost because of our own inability to create real chances from open play and extreme inability to hit the target yet again, even though we had another ordinary opponent with an insecure-looking keeper. From the start Newport were happy just to hack the ball into touch, but we were too poor to capitalise and to boss the game.

Let's face it, whatever the poverty of the refereeing standard, we produce an aerial style of football which would not win a Conference match. As GloomyGull so rightly posted, our throws-in are monotonous and easily defended. As various posters have said, we only seem to look for the long ball; especially when reduced to ten men the tactic surely has to be to try to control and keep the ball ...?
Are we not professional enough to recognise faults which mere amateur spectators can see?

[gullintwoplaces]

Sadly, time after time we have proved to be backward when it comes to conning refs. Some might see this as moral and upright, but the end result is that we lose out to the cheats. Some refs are an utter disgrace, totally unable to see when they are having the wool pulled over their eyes. I hope the Newport players have a twinge of conscience today, but I doubt they will.

[bobby93]

Just watched the FLS.

Inclined to think that Shamir has gone in not with the intention of hurting the Newport player, but definitely with the intention of stopping him reaching the ball. However, the Newport lad has gone in with his elbow raised also and it just so happens that it's Shamir that's made the contact this time.

I can see the logic behind the red but I do think it's a touch harsh, particularly given that the other player has gone in hard and got nothing. Also don't understand the signalling of the free kick to us, as others have mentioned.

[Gullscorer]

This referee has a bit of a reputation for handing out incorrect/unnecessary cards. But we would not be talking so much about incidents like this if we had a better team playing football capable of winning games.

[brucie]

The assessment of how bad we actually played is largely irrelevant. Both teams have played loads of games of late and whoever had played three quarters of the game with ten men would have lost.
So really the incident that changed the game was the sending off.
If you have awarded a free kick to one side then that must mean an infringement was comitted by the opposing side.
I havn't bothered to watch the incident again - I don't need to.
To suddenly change your mind and award the free kick to the other team and send off a player from the team you awarded the foul to in the first place is quite clearly ludicrous officiating.
It is quite frankly astonishing.

[Fonda]

Looked a pretty clear red to me. He didn't 'swing ' his elbow, but clearly led with it and it could have been nasty. Quite what was going through his mind I have no idea. Like Labadie, we've been let down by a player temporarily losing their mind.

As for why we lost the game? Well, there's a bit of a pattern developing here that I've noticed - We aren't good enough! The ref was poor, but not nearly as poor as our team. Pearce was decent again, Mansell worked hard, Bodin showed glimpses of quality and Ricey made some decent saves. Apart from that? Awful. Newport won at a canter. It was men against boys again - even before the sending off. Quite apart from ability, they looked physically stronger all over the pitch.

We're going down because we can't string two semi-decent performances together. Look for other excuses if you like, but the principle reason is closer to home.

[PlainmoorRoar]

i disagree, the hand you see fly up has white wrist tape on it which is the Newport player, if there's contact then Goodwins shoulder has hit the guy but of course he goes rolling around like he's been shot!

how on earth did we not equalise at the end either!

[Gloomy Gull]

Hope the club appeals that decision - must have a strong chance of overturning such a poor call, especially as he had given a free kick in our favour in the first instance.

Do the Board have the bo**ocks to challenge ???! :no:

[Burnhamgull]

This referee has a bit of a reputation for handing out incorrect/unnecessary cards. But we would not be talking so much about incidents like this if we had a better team playing football capable of winning games.

We can whinge on here about wrong decisions/luck of the bounce/poor referees etc but the fact remains we're terrible.

[Jeff]

The video doesn't change my view of it - perhaps I should have said "led with an arm" rather than "swinging elbow", but it looks exactly as I remember on that video. You can't challenge like that, end of story.

That said, the referee did signal a free kick for us immediately after the incident, but to me it just looked like he suffered from an extreme moment of brain fade and pointed the wrong way rather than actually award anything to us.

[Dave]

Just got back from U16match, our referee today is a Torquay fan who I know well, asked him for his view, he said on the video he had seen it's a straight red, having seen that clip to be honest I agree, he's led with his elbow caught the lad, and given the referee a decision to make, no point appealing that.