I received a phone call on Friday telling me I would be assessed on Saturday.  Wow not seen one for 5 months and i get two in two games!  I left home to ensure I got to the ground in plenty of time, however due to the fact that City were at home. It took me nearly 40 minutes to do the last 2 miles to St Andrews. However as I had left home Early i was still on time.
One of my assistants was running late due to the traffic but I knew he was coming and as he had come a similar direction to me I knew what problems he would have faced. The assessor was there in plenty of time and wanted to listen to the prematch.  We had some interruptions prior to the game which I wasnt happy about and caused everything to be very rushed……but that’s for another post.
We kicked off and im not sure quite why but it took me a good 30 minutes to get the flow of the game. I seemed to be mentally reacting slowly. However it all settled down and I got into the flow. Unfortunately the game despite being end to end didn’t really do so.
There was lots of pulling and pushing going on and difficult to take action against everything as it mutual fouling.  Also whenever i played an advantage they wanted a free kick, whenever I gave the free kick……………………….
After about 30 minutes I gave a free kick against a St Andrews player for a simple push. The response was my numbers 10 and my name is (XXXX XXXX) if you want to get it out of the way and book me. It was a simple free kick, but i didn’t want to be in polite…….silly caution.
Just before half time I thought oh no not again. Attacker beat 3 defenders who were giving chase, broke into the penalty box and had a shot but then got taken out by a late challenge.  Penalty and yellow card.  He had his effort but it was still a foul but I was happy that it wasn’t DOGSO in fact the only person to suggest so was Mr Assessor afterwards!!
However one of the management team from St Andrews felt that he wanted to suggest that I had only given the decision as the assesor was there. Unfortunately he went to far and was asked not to return to the technical area.
Just after half time I awarded a penalty to St Andrews for a push in the box. The player who committed the foul thought that he would continue to complain to long and ended up with a caution as well.  He wasnt the only one with a 3rd player cautioned for dissent in the last minute.
The game itself though was end to end and must have been great for a spectator with it finishing 3-3. However I felt that the two teams were in that end of season mode and werent really interested in listening or being managed. An example was midway in the first half, a player was tripped behind my back. I saw him fall and then my assistant flagged. I wasn’t sure what happened and moved in closer to my assistant. Who then instructed me that there was a foul, but in fact he had flagged for offside just before. The players thought I had guessed the decision.  I have to admit i got a bit frustrated in the fact that they wanted an answer, but my answer was incorrect when I explained what had happened.Â
Saturday was my last game this season. Short of picking anything else up now that’s me done for the season. Â
