Game 12

Thank you Mr G. Your example of taking a free kick without waiting, as instructed, for the referee's whistle has obviously filtered down. A player today was asked to wait for my whistle as I marked out the required distance, he didn't and was surprised to receive the game's first and only caution.

This game was a poor advertisement for football in the first round of the District Cup. It was partly my fault as I was offered an under inflated ball before the game and asked for it (and the spare ball) to be pumped up. The ground was dry and hard, so when the teams started playing long balls out of defence, it was pinging around like a table tennis ball.

One early such ball saw a young attacker pushed as he lined up his shot on goal. He was just inside the penalty area and we had my first intervention of the game after just 5 minutes. His goal was added to a few minutes later and with the home team going 3-0 before the end of the first half, the game was over as a contest.

The skill levels in the second half didn't improve but the away team did. They won the second half 3-2 but lost 5-3 overall. Two of their goals had a touch of the bizarre about them and the third was a brilliantly executed set piece.

The first came as I blew for a free kick in the middle third of the field. The ball however had bounced past the home team's left back and into the path of the away team's Polish forward. I had missed the opportunity to play advantage! The free kick however was lifted into the penalty area and powered home from around 12 yards.

The second bizarre goal came from the head of the Polish forward who headed the ball across goal from the goal line. The ball looped over the goal keeper and bounced over the goal line, into the goal and then spun back out again. Fortunately I was well placed, blew my whistle and told the players a goal had been scored. Funnily enough a similar incident at the other end saw me award a free kick to the defence for a foul on the goalkeeper. The signal was similar but the outcome very different.

Calories 1342, hr max 86%, average 71% ... almost like a recovery session.