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22 February 2004 : Premiership ref? You're having a laugh!
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Yeovil Town once again this season returned empty-handed from a long trip oop north after in-form Darlington beat the Glovers 3-2 at a sparsely-populated Reynolds Arena yesterday. But yet again it was the performance of the referee that led to both teams and managers, not to forget the poor bloody paying public, to question how it is that some of these officials ever get to be put in charge of anything more onerous than a under-11's five-a-side match, never mind a professional sporting occasion which people pay good money to see and affects the livelihoods of dozens of people.
Darlo took the lead on 20 minutes, a rare Chris Weale error letting Barry Conlon in. Two minutes later and the Glovers were level, Lee Johnson chipping Darlo keeper Michael Price from the edge of the area. The home side regained the lead in controversial circumstances and against the run of play on the half-hour mark, a Neil Wainwright shot finding the net with Chris Weale claiming several offside attackers were both impeding him and obscuring his view - incredibly Premiership referee (!) Dermot Gallagher ruled they were not interfering, the first of many dubious decisions.
The Glovers were furious with Mr Gallagher again on 40 minutes when he gave Paul Terry a straight red card for a professional foul, despite there appearing to be at least one more defender between Terry and the goal when the foul was committed. The home side were the next to curse their luck, Neil Teggart appearing to be fouled in the box but not according to Mr Gallagher, who booked the player for diving. Teggart became the second player to see the red card on 64 minutes after what seemed to be an innoccuous challenge was punished by both a free-kick and a second yellow card by the referee - as clear a case of a poor referee 'evening-up' an earlier bad decision as one could hope to see, was the general consensus in the crowd.
The home side took a decisive lead with 10 minutes left to play, Neil Wainwright adding his 2nd goal and Darlington's 3rd with a well-taken individual effort. Adam Lockwood reduced the deficit to one in injury time, but it was too little too late for the Glovers in a match spoiled by an inconsistent and whistle-happy official.
Darlington manager David Hodgson, who reportedly described both sendings off as "scandalous" - which says it all when he was the winning manager, had high praise for his opponents admitting: "They were far and away the best side that we have seen all season and if I have to watch another game like that I'll probably end up having a heart attack. We were a bit nervous and edgy at times. But it's another three points and that's what counts."
Final score: Darlington 3 - 2 Yeovil Town.
The result means the Glovers drop a place to 6th in the league table, still on 53 points. Torquay are 7th on 52 points after their excellent 1-0 win at former leaders Hull City yesterday. Lincoln City are 8th on 51 points following their 2-1 away loss to Huddersfield, who leapfrog the Glovers into 5th place with 56 points. Hull's home loss to Torquay means the Tigers drop to 2nd place on 63 points, Doncaster going back to the top on 65 points after their impressive 2-1 win at 4th placed Mansfield, the Stags remaining on 56 points. Oxford drew 1-1 at home to Bury to remain in 3rd spot, on 60 points. The Glovers next opponents, Cambridge United, beat Bristol Rovers 3-1 at the Abbey Stadium to go to 15th position, on 38 points.
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