Game 60

Once more I proved my own assertion that I only need to open the fridge door to get sunburn. It was grey, overcast and cloudy, yet I arrived home with a bright red forehead and sore neck.

That's almost the only exciting thing that happened in my 60th game of the season. The bottom club in the 2nd Division were facing a promotion chasing 3rd placed team and the result 0-6 was true to form.

Only 3 interesting incidents in this game. The first was the caution for a late challenge by the home team's industrious midfielder. It looked worse than it was, but he was still a good 1-2 seconds after the ball was played and gave the away team's left back a firm kick on his instep. No one and I mean no one, disagreed with the caution!

Second incident saw the home goalkeeper take a knock on his knee which caused a cut. he argued and argued about getting it treated and covered. He also argued that there should have been action taken against the away player. In truth I saw nothing with the challenge and the contact came after the ball had been played. The goalkeeper argued himself into the game's second and final caution.

The last incident was an unusual one. Three players were challenging for the ball and the home player's sock came down. There was no foul, it was just legs rubbing together (best way I can describe what happened) and the sock came down and his shin pad came undone falling forward, down and exposing his shin. I immediately stopped play, got him to correct his equipment and restarted play with a dropped ball.

Oh I nearly forgot I held a minute's silence to remember the dead of Hillsborough '96 and held up the second half as I wanted to pump up both match balls which seemed to have very soft on the first half. 1078 calories, max 89% average 70% ... almost recovery pace. Two down and two to go in my 4 in 4 run.

P.S. I must be getting old. One of the best things about being a referee is playing an advantage which results in a goal for the non-offending team. It happened, yesterday and I forgot about it. Ho hum!