the tilehurst end 
13-03-2024 11:02
13-03-2024 11:02
Five Things From A Joke Of A Defeat To Derby County
If I were a proper journalist, and not an unprofessional joke of a writer, then I would be half-tempted to start off my piece with something like “12-man Derby beat plucky 10-man Reading in a tricky encounter at Pride Park”. Fortunately for everyone concerned I am not in that position, so I’m saying it here.
Looking back at the previous missives of Five Things that I’ve written over the years, I don’t think I’ve mentioned referees that often. In fact, I often make a point of not mentioning them. In real time it’s probably what we moan about the most, but in the cold light of day it’s usually the performance of our team that’s won or lost us the result. Not on this occasion.
Joke
Looking back at the replays of all the contentious decisions, it’s hard not to feel very aggrieved at the outcome of each. For Derby County’s first goal there’s a very good chance that it was offside, not by one but two Derby players. That’s bad enough in isolation to get a little bit miffed but it just got worse.
For Andy Yiadom’s first booking, how in the wide world of sports is he supposed to avoid the ball hitting his arm when it’s whacked from a few feet away? The handball rule is an absolute joke these days, but how that’s a bookable offence is just beyond me. What’s he supposed to do? Evaporate his arm?
It wasn’t even an accident, there’s nothing Yiadom could do to avoid that scenario. (You could also say the same about Tyler Bindon’s yellow card where it’s just a tangle of legs, which was a complete accident. How is he supposed to avoid that?) Anyway, it only gets worse from here on in…
Suspicion
Then comes one of the worst decisions that I’ve ever seen from a referee at a professional level, there’s no two ways about it. How any referee can come to a decision like this, given how the game had been up until now (i.e. not a dirty game) and Yiadom had not even been persistently fouling, it just made no sense.
Yiadom makes no attempt to play the ball as he knows he’s likely to clip the player: his entire body shape indicates so. There’s absolutely no contact, not even accidental between him and the attacking player. If anything, there’s a suspicion that Yiadom could even have been pulled himself from a player behind him!
We’ve all seen enough football to know that referees take in a host of considerations that aren’t necessarily in the rulebook. Things like flow of the game, character of the player, timing of the offence, where the offence is, etc. But there was none of that here. Even if it was a foul, which is most certainly was not, is that really a yellow card offence? Is it really enough of a bookable offence to trigger a red card? Surely not.
Even if this were a Derby or even a Oxf*rd player, I’d have said that’s not even a foul, so definitely not a yellow card and therefore definitely nowhere near something that would ultimately send Yiadom off. Where’s the consideration of the state of the game? Where’s the sensibility of maybe having a word with Andy to “be more careful” if being more careful of avoiding making contact with the ball couldn’t be more blatantly obvious if he tried?
Where’s the consistency considering there must have been another 20 or 30 near misses or challenges like this throughout the night? (Eiran Cashin of Derby rattled through the back of Sam Smith and the outcome of that offence wasn’t the same as Andy’s? Behave!!)
Last but not least, Dwight Gayle’s handball that ultimately gained Derby’s winner. The referee might have been unsighted for this one and the assistant referee was further up in the other half, so this might have been a genuine mistake, but still, it’s a foul for Reading regardless and never a penalty.
I hate to say it, but we’ve had some terrible decisions go against us this season. We thought the standard of refereeing in the Championship was bad, but this referee Charles Breakspear took this to a whole new level. And that’s all I have to say about that.
Honest
Otherwise, we probably weren’t the best side on the night, but ultimately did not disgrace ourselves in any way. With rose-tinted glasses on, a point would have been the right result. We certainly deserved it considering what we were up against. Twice we’ve played Derby and on both occasions we performed admirably.
The flow and build-up play might not have been to the highest standard but this is where we are as a squad, it’s never been silky smooth or pleasing on the eye, it’s just good honest graft and unity. There was everything to be proud of considering Derby’s position and the relative time of squad development that Derby have had. Consider those factors and we’ve done mighty well.
That said, we’ve now lost four out of our last six when we really need to be picking up points. We can’t afford to feel sorry for ourselves over being hung out to dry by the officials.
Maximum
Fortunately, the rest of the teams below us in the table are rancid right now. Yet again none of them won. Only Fleetwood Town managed to scrabble a point and the rest all lost. Even more encouraging for us is that our next opponents, Cambridge United, got absolutely mashed 6-0 to Lincoln City so they won’t exactly be in the best of moods when they visit the SCL.
We need to arrest our slides at home and get some confidence back on Saturday. We probably only need two or three wins (EFL permitting) and that would well be enough to keep us in the division. The teams below us can’t even collect Nectar points so a few maximums could kill them off.
It would be nice if it was our turn to get some decisions from the officials, too. Wouldn’t count on it, though, would you?
Looking back at the previous missives of Five Things that I’ve written over the years, I don’t think I’ve mentioned referees that often. In fact, I often make a point of not mentioning them. In real time it’s probably what we moan about the most, but in the cold light of day it’s usually the performance of our team that’s won or lost us the result. Not on this occasion.
Joke
Looking back at the replays of all the contentious decisions, it’s hard not to feel very aggrieved at the outcome of each. For Derby County’s first goal there’s a very good chance that it was offside, not by one but two Derby players. That’s bad enough in isolation to get a little bit miffed but it just got worse.
For Andy Yiadom’s first booking, how in the wide world of sports is he supposed to avoid the ball hitting his arm when it’s whacked from a few feet away? The handball rule is an absolute joke these days, but how that’s a bookable offence is just beyond me. What’s he supposed to do? Evaporate his arm?
It wasn’t even an accident, there’s nothing Yiadom could do to avoid that scenario. (You could also say the same about Tyler Bindon’s yellow card where it’s just a tangle of legs, which was a complete accident. How is he supposed to avoid that?) Anyway, it only gets worse from here on in…
Suspicion
Then comes one of the worst decisions that I’ve ever seen from a referee at a professional level, there’s no two ways about it. How any referee can come to a decision like this, given how the game had been up until now (i.e. not a dirty game) and Yiadom had not even been persistently fouling, it just made no sense.
Yiadom makes no attempt to play the ball as he knows he’s likely to clip the player: his entire body shape indicates so. There’s absolutely no contact, not even accidental between him and the attacking player. If anything, there’s a suspicion that Yiadom could even have been pulled himself from a player behind him!
We’ve all seen enough football to know that referees take in a host of considerations that aren’t necessarily in the rulebook. Things like flow of the game, character of the player, timing of the offence, where the offence is, etc. But there was none of that here. Even if it was a foul, which is most certainly was not, is that really a yellow card offence? Is it really enough of a bookable offence to trigger a red card? Surely not.
Even if this were a Derby or even a Oxf*rd player, I’d have said that’s not even a foul, so definitely not a yellow card and therefore definitely nowhere near something that would ultimately send Yiadom off. Where’s the consideration of the state of the game? Where’s the sensibility of maybe having a word with Andy to “be more careful” if being more careful of avoiding making contact with the ball couldn’t be more blatantly obvious if he tried?
Where’s the consistency considering there must have been another 20 or 30 near misses or challenges like this throughout the night? (Eiran Cashin of Derby rattled through the back of Sam Smith and the outcome of that offence wasn’t the same as Andy’s? Behave!!)
Last but not least, Dwight Gayle’s handball that ultimately gained Derby’s winner. The referee might have been unsighted for this one and the assistant referee was further up in the other half, so this might have been a genuine mistake, but still, it’s a foul for Reading regardless and never a penalty.
I hate to say it, but we’ve had some terrible decisions go against us this season. We thought the standard of refereeing in the Championship was bad, but this referee Charles Breakspear took this to a whole new level. And that’s all I have to say about that.
Honest
Otherwise, we probably weren’t the best side on the night, but ultimately did not disgrace ourselves in any way. With rose-tinted glasses on, a point would have been the right result. We certainly deserved it considering what we were up against. Twice we’ve played Derby and on both occasions we performed admirably.
The flow and build-up play might not have been to the highest standard but this is where we are as a squad, it’s never been silky smooth or pleasing on the eye, it’s just good honest graft and unity. There was everything to be proud of considering Derby’s position and the relative time of squad development that Derby have had. Consider those factors and we’ve done mighty well.
That said, we’ve now lost four out of our last six when we really need to be picking up points. We can’t afford to feel sorry for ourselves over being hung out to dry by the officials.
Maximum
Fortunately, the rest of the teams below us in the table are rancid right now. Yet again none of them won. Only Fleetwood Town managed to scrabble a point and the rest all lost. Even more encouraging for us is that our next opponents, Cambridge United, got absolutely mashed 6-0 to Lincoln City so they won’t exactly be in the best of moods when they visit the SCL.
We need to arrest our slides at home and get some confidence back on Saturday. We probably only need two or three wins (EFL permitting) and that would well be enough to keep us in the division. The teams below us can’t even collect Nectar points so a few maximums could kill them off.
It would be nice if it was our turn to get some decisions from the officials, too. Wouldn’t count on it, though, would you?