City 1 (Watkins 90m) 1 Whitehawk 1 full time

Rigg go Stearn who drops to bench.
Watkins heads in from Stearn cross.
Att 731. Entertaining? Other results means we are level on points with play off places in this crazy league.

There was an explanation for the Stearn swap going into the game, I’ll upload the interview later. Nothing to hit the front pages.

Fair result, could have lost or won that one with underside of crossbar and Jack Batten (I think) saving us.... then our penalty and final flourish.... not to mention Stearn placing the ball for their goalkeeper

That was Jack wasn’t it? Glad we didn’t get to see Steve King celebrate.

Barnstorming finish. Ref finally got tired of their shenanigans and enabled us to play. Sending off seemed very harsh but they still continued to put it about.

I no longer count a pen as a goalscoring opportunity. How many have we missed now? Jack didn't have his shooting boots on today.

Morton deservedly MOM again with another master class. He is worth the entrance money on his own.

Thought we just shaded it today. Not at the races for the first 25 minutes but got into the game as it progressed. Smith should have done better when one on one with the keeper and the penalty miss from Compton was not a complete surprise as he looked strangely out of sorts first half. Second half much better when Watto and Stearn introduced for the ineffective Jarvis and Rigg who looked a bit lost out wide. Morton got better as game went on and his range of passing is sublime at times. Whitehawk looked a well organised and very robust side but their time wasting antics especially in the second half were annoying. The Whitehawk sending off was a ludicrous decision by the ref as Straker flyhacked at a bobbling ball and connected with the Whitehawk lad fouling him. Lots of drama in the last 10 minutes with the superb header from Watto and a brilliant ball by Morton to release Compton at the end when he should have scored. Not sure how many Whitehawk players went in book today, possibly 6?.

Six, including one after the game.

I forgot to amend the player ratings for the NLP from half time so Morton is down at 6 and their goalscorer Star Man. Bah.

Have to say I also thought sending off very harsh, looked like 50:50 challenge so surprised to see a sending off. My initial reaction was must have said something but just think poor decision.

It may have been harsh for the actual player who got sent off, but the ref did not do enough to stop them wasting time, so overall it was fair for them to lose a player. King (*hitehawk manager)
should have been sent off in the first half.

Very glad to see that people are appreciating what good entertainment it was today. Whitehawk deserved their excellent goal - especially with the goal line clearance just beforehand. The penalty wasn't great but it was a good save. However, we definitely deserved to pull level but the sending off was a ridiculous decision - two players went for a ball and missed it, hitting each other's shinpads. Not only that but a bit beforehand, the ref booked the wrong player for a foul. The last 10 minutes were excellent entertainment and the sort that it is hard to explain to someone who has just seen the result why it was worth the admission price alone. Just shows the tightness of this division that we have had two weeks of dreaming of the play-offs, an hour when we were out of them today and then the dream of the pay-offs is alive again.

The sending off looked from behind the goal like a foul by Straker, albeit an accidental one. We were all very surprised by the decision. That said, aside from that I thought the referee was excellent and didn’t take any nonsense from Whitehawk.

I was completely mystified with the second yellow. I can't remember the exact build-up, was there a chance Straker was clipped beforehand, resulting in the second yellow? Because when he followed through to the player after slipping I thought he'd committed the foul, rather than the other way around.

That said, scoring a goal on the back of a controversial free-kick and sending off would have made Steve King even angrier, so shame it didn't come off. What a repulsive bloke he is, ironic when Whitehawk are keen to publicise how keen they are to (rightly) stamp out what's wrong in society, they appoint that odious creature.

That's funny, Ash and I had similar views on the incident. We should commentate together, or something.

Dont forget a point in this crazy league is worth a lot.

Still can’t quite decide if today was 2 points dropped or 1 gained but can’t help feeling that we did enough at the end to have won it. With the league so tight I can’t help thinking that we are going to regret the penalty misses.

I think it showed again the problem of not having an out and out striker - Compton and Stearn got lots of good balls into the box but we needed someone to get on the end of them, although Watto did a good job when he came on.

Whitehawk were a typical Steve King team and I think overall the referee did a pretty good job apart from the free kick they scored from and the sending off - like most others I assumed he was going to book Straker.

stillmanjunior wrote:Six, including one after the game.

I forgot to amend the player ratings for the NLP from half time so Morton is down at 6 and their goalscorer Star Man. Bah.

Does that include the double yellow?

Or is it 6 and then the red?

Sir Ged Roddy wrote:It may have been harsh for the actual player who got sent off, but the ref did not do enough to stop them wasting time, so overall it was fair for them to lose a player.  King (*hitehawk manager)
should have been sent off in the first half.

Afraid I'll have to disagree with you there! Although he possibly did get some crucial decisions wrong, including our penalty and the red card, I thought he had an excellent game. Hopefully the assessor present will not dwell on those two incidents and instead praise him for his determined effort to cut out the gamesmanship of the Whitehawk players and our friend Mr King in particular. The latter was up to his usual antics immediately following the penalty and the ref made it absolutely clear to him why he had made the decision and to keep within his area. Despite his efforts to work on the lino for the remainder of the match,  the officials were clearly as familiar with such behaviour as supporters and didn't let it interfere. Yes, he should have been dismissed but personally I preferred to see him watch as his efforts were wasted. And the ref gets 10/10 from me for his determination to prevent Whitehawk wasting time in the second half. The six minutes minimum of added time announced ended up at around eleven.

If only a ref like this could officiate the likes of Neymar Infant...

The board for six minutes went up prematurely, we still had just over three minutes of normal time to play. In the end we played just over seven minutes as we scored during it and Whitehawk broke an attack down with someone holding his face, who miraculously recovered soon after.

Most referees appear to be aware of King's behaviour, or that of players he manages, and, unfortunately, it can be a case of 'Boy who cried Wolf'. Rose was clearly badly injured and needed treatment but the game was allowed to go on for over two minutes with him horizontal, as the referee probably thought he was doing anything to waste time.

Whilst it wasn't on par with Hampton's appalling crowding of the officials, and not even close to the behaviour of most Western League players, I thought the referee dealt with the misdemeanours well, and presumably will have a few words in his report.

Had Whitehawk had this team at the start of the season they'd probably be mid-table. Although they were often sloppy in possession, kicking or running out of the play countless times, you couldn't fault their determination and the physical presence of some will cause other teams problems. Whether it'll be enough to keep them up remains to be seen. I personally think they've left it too late but there's often one team which gets sucked into a relegation battle, so you never know. Personally I won't shed a tear if they do go down - one fewer long trip and, hopefully, one fewer visit of King for another year.

As for us, the performance was massively improved from our 1-1 with them in November, and that late goal should give the players confidence going into the next few games which, on the surface, appear winnable. Provided we buck our trend of past showings at East Thurrock, that is.

Did anyone happen to notice that the ref booked the wrong player for a foul a couple of minutes before the sending off?

Nope, but he booked so many of them that I’m surprised the Press Association didn’t block my incoming emails.

What happened with Stearns recall by Sutton and what was JGs  reaction post match?

comrade powell wrote:

Sir Ged Roddy wrote:It may have been harsh for the actual player who got sent off, but the ref did not do enough to stop them wasting time, so overall it was fair for them to lose a player.  King (*hitehawk manager)
should have been sent off in the first half.

Afraid I'll have to disagree with you there! Although he possibly did get some crucial decisions wrong, including our penalty and the red card, I thought he had an excellent game. Hopefully the assessor present will not dwell on those two incidents and instead praise him for his determined effort to cut out the gamesmanship of the Whitehawk players and our friend Mr King in particular. The latter was up to his usual antics immediately following the penalty and the ref made it absolutely clear to him why he had made the decision and to keep within his area. Despite his efforts to work on the lino for the remainder of the match,  the officials were clearly as familiar with such behaviour as supporters and didn't let it interfere. Yes, he should have been dismissed but personally I preferred to see him watch as his efforts were wasted. And the ref gets 10/10 from me for his determination to prevent Whitehawk wasting time in the second half. The six minutes minimum of added time announced ended up at around eleven.

If only a ref like this could officiate the likes of Neymar Infant...

Fair enough. I'm a bit calmer than I was yesterday, but it did help that I could join in with the booing when King went into the tunnel. It was an interesting comment from Paul Evans that he chatted with the ref, who said he had warned the *hitehawk players that, if they laid down for 1 minute, he would add 2 minutes! Excellent reaction. I did realise after the game that the ref wouldn't be able to get the cheats physically removed, so it did work, as we scored in the 95th minute.
I haven't checked their match list, but they only have 11 games left, and are 13 points behind Chippenham (4th from bottom) and Chippenham have an extra game. So, if *hitehawk won all their games (they have just got 11 points from their last 6 games), they would end up with 52 points, and Chippenham would need to get 20 points from their 12 remaining games. Pretty unlikely that Whitehawk will do this, and I shall not be unhappy if they go down.

Great interview! Do managers share a bottle of red wine after the match at this level?

comrade powell wrote:Great interview! Do managers share a bottle of red wine after the match at this level?

Nope. Not at all. None of them.

Re the previous comment, last season's tally of 37 was the lowest for a club finishing 19th, whereas the year before, Havant went down on GD on 47. The average points needed are 43. I think it'll be nearer that tally this time, unless someone goes into freefall.