Saturday was my 20th middle (and I have 11 lines in the bag).
Having posted the OP I subsequently received two reports both with marks (for the first time this season). One of the marks was a 68.5, I had a 2 on match control.
2. Match Control:
This was an extremely difficult pitch and you decided to play the game. It was very muddy and difficult and frustrating for the players. You had seven cautions. Two cautions to the home team (a foul tackle and the other for kicking the ball away) and five cautions to the away team (two for dissent,two for foul tackles and one for adopting an aggressive attitude). All were correct in law.
Partly due to the heavy pitch you should have been stronger and tighter with fouls. Players were regularly not taking the ball safely and cleanly. Also, studs up became a problem. A tighter control of fouls, particularly bearing in mind the conditions, was needed.
In the 27th minute of the first half you missed your assistant flagging for a foul to the away team, near to the home team penalty area. He waved for 5 to 10 seconds before the players were able to draw your attention to the flag. You went over and spoke to the assistant and then came back and gave an offside free kick to the defence. Players argued loudly and you went back and spoke to the assistant again. You returned to the centre of the pitch and now changed your decision to a free kick to the attacking away team. We discussed this in the dressing room after the game. It appears that you misunderstood, or misheard your assistant the first time that you spoke to him. The situation undermined you with players.
I thought the 2 was a bit harsh. I thought I had control of the game (and dealt with the tackles), the first caution was for the skipper who won the ball but his follow through was way to heavy for me, making it a reckless tackle. I had one more for the same team (who lost 6-0) with an overly heavy follow though.
The adopting an aggressive attitude came in the 90th minute (at 6-0 down) after the home player (despite being 6-0 up at the end of the game and having conceded a foul 80 yards from his own goal) kicked the ball away.
The away team didn't want to play the game, it was incredibly muddy and a bit soft in places, but I was happy it was safe, at no point did I lose my footing or feel I might do myself an injury, neither teams' physios entered the FOP to treat any players. I had one player walk off after taking a hard shot to the ribs and was badly winded but that was it.
The problem with the missing a flag I could do with some advice on. I'm not young (40) but was significantly less experienced than my two officials (this is my 5th season), one assistant was older and passive, the other was older and less so.
There was a body to body collision, the attacker had shifter the ball and then collided with the defender, it was 10 yards from the assistant, 15-20 yards from me. I was happy that the defender couldn't get out of the way, the ball went forward to a player who I thought was offside, the assistant's flag went up, I blew for offside.
At this point the angry attacker charged over to me to protest, going too far, so get the book out with the intention of a caution for dissent while trying to calm the player down. At this point I notice the assistant flagging.
I jog over and we have a chat, he was flagging for the foul, I saw his agitate his flag originally but missed it, as I was expecting an offside. He explains what he saw I say what I saw and stupidly I let him change my mind. I reversed my decision and gave the foul. I also decided to not caution the player as my original decision was "wrong", so his reaction was almost fair.
I realised that missing the flag gave me a huge problem which I tried to correct with the final decision.
I think the assessor's other point about managing the game and the challenges wasn't right. I was happy with the challenges, gave FKs where needed and cautioned as appropriate, I kept control of the game to allow it to go ahead, I kept the players safe enough.
I only did it this season because I'm 50 later this year and considered it a sort of "milestone" if you like. I've no aspiration to progress to Level 4 or beyond. If it happens and they promote me - great. If not, ah well...... 