The first cup game of the season and this one was being played in the District Sunday Cup which is open to all open age Sunday teams who play in my area.
Having suffered a hamstring pull on Thursday night while training I wasn't sure how I would manage this game and in the end, it was relatively easy. Kick off took place at 10:30 and within 5 minutes the Away team were one ahead. I awarded a free kick to the Away team and when the ball was played into the Home team penalty area, two players challenged for the ball. The ball was forced into the goal but the Home team player claimed the attacker had handled the ball. Because of the distance the free kick had travelled on the strongish wind, I was still 40 yards away from the drop zone and therefore wasn't well placed to make a call of handball so the goal was awarded. One player was so strong in his condemnation of my decision, that he earned a caution for dissent.
The game was pretty much one way traffic for the rest of the half. One of the Away attackers chased a long ball into the Home team half and when he missed the ball he fell flat on his face. When he didn't move I ran to his position where he was obviously in a lot of pain. As he wasn't on the field of play, I summoned help from his manager and got the game moving again. He was substituted shortly afterwards.
There was the usual shouts for offside and handball, one of which was close but I thought it was ball to hand, so didn't give anything. The second half started and I had one, then two, then three players from the Away team approach me at different times to complain that the player I had cautioned was interfering with them. They all claimed he was grabbing their testicles when they were challenging for the ball with him.
Shortly after that one of the complaining players committed a reckless challenge and earned his own caution. The centre half of Home team decided to administer his own justice and I had to break up the "discussion". Each team replaced a player and the game seemed to be swinging back the way of Home team as they had a couple of close shots on goal. Then the Away team scored again. The ball was played forward from the centre circle and was clearly handled by a defender but it dropped to an attacker 25 yards out from goal. I called "Advantage - Play On!" and this player flicked the ball to a team mate who volleyed it into the net from around 20 yards out. I got genuine and sincere congratulations from the Away players, manager and supporters. Although I couldn't acknowledge these, I was grinning and clapping inside like a kid with a new toy.
On 74 minutes, I had my first dismissal of the season. A high ball was played towards the two players who had already been cautioned and as the Away player passed the ball to a team mate, the Home team player kicked him high up on the side of his torso. I stopped play and called him over. When I asked for his name, he told me he'd already been booked. When I checked his name, he was right so I showed the yellow card and then the red. He was still protesting his innocence when I left his team's pub after the game!
10 minutes to go and a freak goal was scored. With the extra space granted by playing against only 10 men, the Away team began to pass the ball around. One player kicked the ball high into the air from around 35 yards out. It dropped in behind the goalkeeper who was only a yard or two off his line.
So it finished 3-0 to the Away team and I burnt off 1219 calories which is not bad considering I hardly broke out of a jog all game. Sorry for the brief report but I've spent 3 hours gardening and another 3 hours typing up my assessment from yesterday - it's hard work!!!
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