Dover thread

[comrade powell]

Preview from their website…

https://www.doverathletic.com/news/up-next-bath-city-2/

Events of over 30 years ago still rankle!

[Guest]

"To add fuel to the fire, Bath are holding a ‘Pay what you like’, Community Day, with punters asked to pay a minimum £2 on the gate." That's ridiculous, in what way does that add fuel to the fire lol

[2weirdtown]

According to my possibly befuddled memory of past posts on here .........
Wasn't there some City supporter gave his version of the Gettysburg Address at Dover once that apparently had some influence on a Dover v City encounter?

[kermit]

Neil. You are of course quite correct as usual.
I will wait for the comrade in question to respond with his version of events.

[comrade powell]

When he gets round to writing his memoirs I fully expect Scotty Partridge to give credit where it's due for who kickstarted his career!

(that thriller all those years ago was in complete contrast to last season's dreadful game at Crabble - even their manager said it was awful)

[PHILB1973#]

Ah the original Oxford City, I was there.

[Digger]

Smith needs to be benched for a while. Rather see Lined in the midfield

[comrade powell]

A very entertaining match with Dover playing their part. On that evidence they won’t be down at the bottom for long. As at Larkhall we had to fight back from two goals down and it made for a pulsating second half. The usual suspects on social media moaning about the ref and conveniently forgetting that without last Saturday’s laughable decision we’d probably have a blank matchday next week. Hopefully many of the newbies in the excellent attendance will be encouraged to return.

[BenE]

Although Dover had a lot of possession first half until their goal we had the better chances even though the switch of wingers wasn't working. Once they went back to their favoured wings we built our game, but it took the dodgy pen to fire us up. In the end we should have won but again we showed that never defeated spirit.

[PHILB1973#]

[quote="comrade powell"]The usual suspects on social media moaning about the ref and conveniently forgetting that without last Saturday’s laughable decision we’d probably have a blank matchday next week. /quote]

Although I see where you are coming from with this I would add that it doesn't matter if last weeks penalty was soft, for all I care the ref last week could had given us a penalty because Larkhall took too long to take a throw in, it still doesn't change the fact that the ref and his assistant were in a great position to see the Dover lad go down in stages whilst clearing throwing himself at the 2 defenders legs. It should never had been given in a million years.

[comrade powell]

Quite agree. But most fans, players and managers at this level seem to expect perfection from officials at this level. If they were of FIFA standard they wouldn't be in NLS. Salah would have buried the late chance squandered by Wilson but we don't expect the same clinical finishing. Just one look and the ref has to make a decision - no VAR replays to get him out of jail. I just find it amusing that each time we don't win there's an inquisition about the officiating but those like last Saturday's decision (and many more over the seasons) are ignored. Let's hope we are blessed with one in our favour if needed at Weymouth rather than yesterday's!

[LB]

I think the first penalty at Larkhall falls into the 'soft' category, but as the pundits are apt to say there was contact, and we would probably also accept the penalty we were given at St Albans was pretty harsh even with the current very confusing hand ball rules. Having watched Match of the Day last night even Premier League referees and VAR can't get them right!

It wasn't just the penalty decision yesterday - there were a number of worse challenges on City players that went unpunished, particularly the foul on Dan Greenslade. What made it worse was that the assistant flagged straightaway but even though Dan was down for a while the referee ignored him.

[comrade powell]

Ignored the assistant or ignored Dan?

[LB]

Ignored the assistant or ignored Dan?

I meant the assistant, but he also ignored Dan for a long time as well and let play continue - perhaps Dan should have held his head and not his ankle!

[BenE]

I used to moan at refs as much as the next man (unless the next man's initials were CV ), but I realised if the officials didn't turn up week after week for little reward there would be no game.
I know that some of the refs though don't trust their assistants enough. Yesterdays was one.

[Peter Newman]

It's not just penalties for or against but the general incompetence/inconsistency of officials. Would last week's first penalty have arisen if the Larkhall challenge on Kieron Parselle resulted in a red card and us playing against 10.

Yesterday the challenge on Dan Greenslade was a  foul that the assistant had a clear view of and  made every effort  to attract the ref's  attention to but was totally ignored.

I take the point that we get officials equivalent to the level we play at but whilst the quality, fitness and skill level of NLS players has increased season on season the competence of officials does not seem to have the improved at a corresponding rate.

[comrade powell]

The ref can overrule his assistant if he disagrees. The better officials get promoted to higher levels. Perhaps the quality from below is no longer coming through in proportion to the supposed improvement of the players. Apparently there is a shortage of referees at grassroots levels and considering the abuse they have to endure that’s hardly surprising.

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