Whitby

Well I thought we were pretty poor last night-even before the sending off. Hopefully we arrest this blip and don't drop out of the play off places.

Yes the referee wasn't on our side and their players were more "in the face" of the linesmen and referee for each Lancaster foul. For example for the sending off they dashed to surround the ref rather than worrying about their colleague who was writhing in agony (!) on the ground till David Norris had been given his red card. But this seems to be a regular feature this season- the bullying of the referees so we have to learn from it.

We lacked ideas once past the halfway line. They were the team who had travelled on a miserable Tuesday for four hours across the Pennines and had the repeat journey to contend with. I know the weather was bad yet their players seemed to be revelling in it.

We will badly miss David Norris for his suspension but it will give others the opportunity to shine and get us back on winning ways.

I agree with all of the above! The first half was as as bad as I can remember us playing this season. We were devoid of any ideas & second to every ball. Although we seemed to be trying harder at the start of the second half, we didn't actually improve much until after Chuck's dismissal. On that topic, I thought the red card was probably correct. The Whitby player made the very most of it, as seems to be de rigueur in this division. We would seem to have a lot to learn regarding harassing match officials. I've thought all season that there seems to be an incredibly high level of official baiting & none of them seem capable of standing up to it or controlling it.
Mark has some big calls regarding team selection for Saturday's game. The three subs that came on all improved the team, & Nozza will be available for this game. Hopefully we can arrest this poor run, or ou promotion efforts could well be over.