Last Thursday saw my season get under way with a cup game between two reserve sides. The first challenge came before we kicked off. In this league these two teams are possibly the furthest apart mileage wise at around 100 miles round trip. The home team didn't have floodlights, so a 6.30 kick off was on the cards.
Unfortunately the away side didn't fully get to the ground until 6.40 so we didn't kick off until 6.50. For a league game I could have reduced the half length but for a cup game it must be 90 minutes. However luckily if it was to finish as a draw there was no extra time just straight penalty's!
The other minor challenge before the game was the fact we had no penalty spots. Given the fact that this game maybe would need penaltys to decided the outcome this was going to be key. So we had to get that sorted as well.
So having had two issues to deal with before we had even started and this being my first game since April. I was glad of a quiet first half. As that was the first 45 minutes of the season, I hope its the worse. It was a poor first half not helped at all by a hard, bumpy dry pitch. Its ok for the top teams flooding their pitches before games. However the teams that are luckily to make any money cant afford to do this.
The second half though became more eventful. The game picked up a notch and there was now some challenges taking place, and a few resulting battles. One incident which game me some reflective thought happened early in the second half. The ball had got cleared by the away side defence, however just out of the corner of my eye two players decided to square up. Now in the last few years I could have either hung back a few seconds to observe or left to my assistant to monitor depending on area on the field of play. However this season I'm on my own. I instinctively decided to hold back and just killed it dead. Issuing a public bollocking. It seemed the best way and there was no issues from that.
My first caution though later in the half was issued to a player for dissent. We will call it frustration but it was from to far a distance and to loud for me to ignore what was said. This was followed by a second caution for a late challenge.
The main talking point of the match came in the 82nd minute. A loose ball in the centre of the pitch and an away player runs for it with the home player. From the angle I have it appears that he wins the ball with strength and takes it away. The home player holds his head and then after about 10 seconds decides to go down. In this time the away side are now at the edge of the penalty area and as the ball is played into the box, the player is tripped. Penalty!
Now I am getting shouts of head injury. However in my initial view the contact if any is minor, the player didn't appear to be in any distress and there was no risk. So i was waiting for the ball to be either cleared or put out of play. My luck is that didn't happen.
My luck got a bit worse, when having gone over to the injured player his nose was bleeding quite heavily. The opinion seemed to be that the away team player had left his arm in when going for the challenge. There was on the whole a rather unconstructive discussion about head injury's and why I didn't stop play initially. I gave up after a few comments, it wasnt going anywhere.
When we finally got the penalty taken, it was saved by the keeper. The ball then broke out wide and one of the away players tripped a player with a late challenge after the ball was cleared.
That was the closest anyone got to scoring in the 90 minutes, and so to penalty's. The away side ended up wining 4-1 on penalty's.
Steady game and one to get the cobwebs and thought process going again. Fitness was well of the mark but I knew that was going be the case. I found as well that I need to squeeze play a bit more out to my club assistants. Onwards and upwards.
Unfortunately the away side didn't fully get to the ground until 6.40 so we didn't kick off until 6.50. For a league game I could have reduced the half length but for a cup game it must be 90 minutes. However luckily if it was to finish as a draw there was no extra time just straight penalty's!
The other minor challenge before the game was the fact we had no penalty spots. Given the fact that this game maybe would need penaltys to decided the outcome this was going to be key. So we had to get that sorted as well.
So having had two issues to deal with before we had even started and this being my first game since April. I was glad of a quiet first half. As that was the first 45 minutes of the season, I hope its the worse. It was a poor first half not helped at all by a hard, bumpy dry pitch. Its ok for the top teams flooding their pitches before games. However the teams that are luckily to make any money cant afford to do this.
The second half though became more eventful. The game picked up a notch and there was now some challenges taking place, and a few resulting battles. One incident which game me some reflective thought happened early in the second half. The ball had got cleared by the away side defence, however just out of the corner of my eye two players decided to square up. Now in the last few years I could have either hung back a few seconds to observe or left to my assistant to monitor depending on area on the field of play. However this season I'm on my own. I instinctively decided to hold back and just killed it dead. Issuing a public bollocking. It seemed the best way and there was no issues from that.
My first caution though later in the half was issued to a player for dissent. We will call it frustration but it was from to far a distance and to loud for me to ignore what was said. This was followed by a second caution for a late challenge.
The main talking point of the match came in the 82nd minute. A loose ball in the centre of the pitch and an away player runs for it with the home player. From the angle I have it appears that he wins the ball with strength and takes it away. The home player holds his head and then after about 10 seconds decides to go down. In this time the away side are now at the edge of the penalty area and as the ball is played into the box, the player is tripped. Penalty!
Now I am getting shouts of head injury. However in my initial view the contact if any is minor, the player didn't appear to be in any distress and there was no risk. So i was waiting for the ball to be either cleared or put out of play. My luck is that didn't happen.
My luck got a bit worse, when having gone over to the injured player his nose was bleeding quite heavily. The opinion seemed to be that the away team player had left his arm in when going for the challenge. There was on the whole a rather unconstructive discussion about head injury's and why I didn't stop play initially. I gave up after a few comments, it wasnt going anywhere.
When we finally got the penalty taken, it was saved by the keeper. The ball then broke out wide and one of the away players tripped a player with a late challenge after the ball was cleared.
That was the closest anyone got to scoring in the 90 minutes, and so to penalty's. The away side ended up wining 4-1 on penalty's.
Steady game and one to get the cobwebs and thought process going again. Fitness was well of the mark but I knew that was going be the case. I found as well that I need to squeeze play a bit more out to my club assistants. Onwards and upwards.
