Referee Mars High Scoring Draw
OFF, OFF, OFF
By Tom Bason
March 6 2011
I’m going to start with the referee, Mark Halsey. Generally, he didn't have a bad game. But there's no point getting 50 little decisions correct if you then bottle the big ones. I'm a qualified referee myself and have refereed matches. I knew when I came off the pitch whether I'd had a good game or not - Mark Halsey will be walking off knowing he's had a mare. Please bear in mind I've not seen replays of these decisions, I've just seen them once, during the match. If I'm wrong, I'll apologise.
First of all, the lack of a red card to Alan Hutton. The letter of the law: ""A player is sent off if....denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards the player’s goal by an offence punishable by a free kick or a penalty kick"". If that wasn't a goal scoring opportunity, I don't know what was. Maybe we were fortunate that the penalty was given in the first place, so often the ref could have waved play on, with no penalty. But once the penalty was given, it was an easy decision.
The fact that Milijaš got half a shot in on goal was irrelevant - see the Fulham v Tottenham game in the FA Cup in January. Michael Dawson was sent off despite Moussa Dembèlè forcing Gomes to make a save. I'm never sure whether those should be red cards, but that's irrelevant. The referee is governed by the laws, and in that decision he failed to uphold them.
The second big decision was Richard Stearman's disallowed goal. This was at the other end of the ground from me, so I didn't have a clear view, but listening to the reaction on the radio and the views of impartial journalists on Twitter, it seems to have been a poor decision.
And, for some reason Halsey couldn't decide whether to give it or not. When you take that long over a decision, you have to get it right. Maybe if we had scored there, we wouldn't have scored another, or Spurs would have gone on and scored a fourth, but the goal should have stood.
But this game shouldn't be about the referee. On the day that a moving tribute to Dean Richards was observed by both sides, football should be the winner. Both teams were committed to attack, and generally kept the ball on the ground. Wolves finished with three strikers and a winger, Spurs had two wingers, a forward and a very attacking playmaker.
Neither side wanted a draw, both wanted three points. Six goals were shared, along with the points in an excellent match. This was easily the best match I've seen at Molineux in a long while.
If we were unlucky with one or two of the referee decisions, we were also unlucky with the goals we conceded. Last night, I saw Raul Meireles' volley past Hennessey crowned January goal of the month. Today, I saw two more contenders, both from the right boot of Jermain Defoe. What a way to break your duck for the season - two cracking finishes that left Hennessey with no chance. And Roman Pavlyuchenko's wasn't bad either, although I suspect it took a deflection on the way in.
Although there was little to be done for any of the goals, although in general, Stearman and Christophe Berra didn't function as well as they have in recent weeks. At times there was a lack of communication between them, and they were often too far apart - Defoe in particular kept finding space in between them, that is a gap that needs to be plugged.
It was nice to see Kevin Doyle get a couple of goals. Did the opener remind anyone else of his goal at White Hart Lane last season? Whipped in ball from Milijaš, Doyle gets in front of his marker and glances a header into Gomes' far post. The second was a penalty from the aforementioned Hutton challenge, it wasn't the best penalty in the world - I'm fairly certain that Gomes would have saved it had he gone the right way.
And the equaliser, Matt Jarvis checked back onto his right foot, and for once his cross found the head of a Wolves player; Steven Fletcher heading back across Gomes to rapturous applause. It's nice to have three strikers in semi-goal scoring form - Ebanks-Blake scored twice last week, Doyle at the double today with Fletcher finding the all-important equaliser.
It could have been far more than 3-3. Defoe hit the post late on when he really should have made it 4-2, Milijaš drew an excellent save from Gomes, Ebanks-Blake sliced wide when well placed in the area and Bale rolled wide late on. Both teams attacked well, but looked liable to concede goals.
Stephen Ward came in for a lot of stick today before he was withdrawn, and to be honest, it was hard to see what he added to the team. This doesn’t excuse the reaction when he was taken off. Given the lack of midfielders available today (Jamie O’Hara, Ronald Zubar, Dave Edwards, Michael Mancienne, Adlene Guedioura, Stephen Hunt and David Jones were all unavailable for one reason or another), he was probably the right choice to start, the same as it was the right decision to take him off, although I’d have introduced Fletcher at that point, rather than Ebanks-Blake.
Looking at the league table, I don't think I've ever seen it so close. No-one can seriously know how many points will keep a team up, surely the aim has to be to get one more point than 17th. Fans were generally unhappy with West Brom and West Ham victories yesterday, but they drew Stoke and Birmingham right back into the scrap.
Just nine points separate the bottom 12, with Newcastle and Everton still looking over their shoulders despite being in the top half. Personally, I think every team from Stoke down, with the exception of Aston Villa is in trouble. West Ham are showing enough form to get out of it, and while people point out that Birmingham have two games in hand, they've only won six game in 27 - what are the chances of them winning two out of two. Who do they play in those matches? Away to Everton and Chelsea. Six easy points? Unlikely.
Every point counts at this stage of the season. We've been as unlucky as it's possible to be today, and still ended up one point off than we were yesterday. With Zubar, Edwards and O'Hara hopefully available for the trip to Villa Park, this is time for fans to keep the faith.
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I agree the best match seen at Molinuex for a good while
Play like that in our remaining games & we will survive
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Wolves are Top Predators in the Natural World.
We can be again in the Football World.
We can survive, on the evidence of today. But Mick has got to start picking his strongest 11
Halsy should be relegated to the `Lower Leagues` for his `basic incompetence....unbelievable!!