Game 64

I didn't manage this many games last season with 55 being my final total including 2 4th Official roles, a couple of friendlies for some veterans and more than a handful of Youth games, U15 downwards.

This season just about every game has been open age, full blooded and some have tested me to my limits. Today's game doesn't fall into that category and was probably one of the most enjoyable in terms of man management I have had all season. The away team featured frequently in my list of teams I'm never happy to referee as they usually cause me a lot of hard work. Today, the players were nothing short of fantastic with only one really bad challenge and one player who offered his opinion once too often, on top of his 3 fouls and fell into my C3 box.

The home team have provided the entertainment for me regularly since Christmas as the Appointment Secretary seems to have lost track of where people have been in the previous few weeks and almost every referee I know has had teams 3 games out of 4 at some point in the season. It's ok if the previous games went well, allows you to try different techniques on the same players and also allows you to read the game more easily, but if the game wasn't good, then it can make the job harder.

Before the game started I used something I have tried out in my last few games. Usually I conduct my footwear/jewellery inspection on teams in turn, but recently I've done them together and it seems to take any sting out of the first 5 minutes of the game and helps build rapport.

Having suffered throughout the week with knee pain after my right knee swelled up, my warm up seemed to be hard work after yesterday's game. I forgot to mention about the spectators at yesterday's game. Their average age seemed to be hovering around the 70 mark and they certainly knew their football. One gentleman commented on the condition of the field, another on the tactics employed by both teams and all were very appreciative of the efforts of both teams.

Anyway the warm-up did little for my knee and I had to consider not starting the game for a few minutes. I decided to start but wearing my trainers instead of my boots. It only took me a couple of minutes to realise that I had made a mistake. I stopped the game to get into my boots and had a few comments from players as they waited. I made my way over to the main group and reminded them all that I could still hear them from the touchline and we had a good laugh about some of the things said.

The game swung from end to end and it was around 22 minutes before I gave my second free kick. I also had to issue my first caution to a player who just would not listen to me. His complaint was about a player who was injured close to the touchline who rolled off the field during the injury assessment. I was willing to continue play but it seemed obvious the player wasn't going to come back and join the game, so we delayed a little while to allow the substitute to get himself ready.

His mood didn't improve when his team conceded the game's first goal and I got his captain to have a chat with him before we restarted. His team won a penalty near the end of the half and he tucked the ball away to equal the scores at half time. He calmed down in the second half and by the end we were friends (until the next game!).

The second half became frantic as the away team scored just before the hour mark, just after their centre half picked up a caution for a bad challenge. They added a third goal with a superb individual effort as their talented winger twisted and turned his way inside the penalty area to open up the goal and he passed the ball into the goal. So with 30 minutes left, the home side had a choice, lie down or fight back.

They took option two and made a real game of it. Time was passing very slowly as my knee felt better but my feet were hurting from the hard ground. A second goal for the home team was closely followed by a caution for an away team player. The play swung backwards and forwards with both teams creating opportunities. I had just about played all of my minutes of added time in the second half when the home team pressed forward.

As they played the ball in from a corner time ran out and I was on the verge of blowing the whistle when they swung a cross to the far post. Their centre forward rose behind the away team's centre half and headed the ball past a despairing goalkeeper to take it to 3-3. My alarm ran out for the end of the half and straight after kick off I blew the whistle for the end of the game. Great game, two good sets of lads and I now need a rest.

I'm thinking of giving back word on my game on Wednesday for two reasons. The first is that work have been a little unhappy at my early departures to collect my son from nursery and get to evening kick offs in the last 3 weeks. The second is that the balloon on my right knee needs some time to rest before next weekend when I have a District Cup semi-final. So I'm waiting to see how the knee does in the next 36 hours or so before making a decision which might see me fall short of 75 games for the season.

Calories 966 (no that is right, less than 1000) which is a reflection of the gentler pace I tried to adopt on the hard ground to lessen the impact on my knee. Max hr 81% (I average that in training sometimes) and average of 66%. Roll on Wednesday (or Saturday) ...