Cod Almighty | Match Stats
Tuesday 18 August 2009
Division 4
Grimsby Town 1 Sweeney (64)
Rotherham United 2 Le Fondre (53pen), Cummins (67)
Attendance: 4156
Messrs Conlon and Hegarty came alive in the second half to great effect, but Clarke gave a perfect demonstration of why Town might not be in this mess if he'd been playing on the right of midfield all season.
"From start to finish the decisions went against us. The linesman on our side never gave us anything all night. We're not making excuses, but sometimes you just get referees and officials that just don't give you anything, and tonight was one of those nights. Although we are not making excuses, it was two decisions that have gone against us, and both resulted in goals... But overall, it was the response we were looking for after a dire and lifeless performance against Crewe."
"We played well and could have won by more goals... We penned them into their half in the first 45 and we would have liked to have got on the end of something but it wasn't to be. We kept plugging away and got our rewards in the second half."
They had width, they had pace, they had a team. Better than Crewe, but not the all-conquering fourth division force some would have you believe. Play-offs maybe.
Bloody good support, if you ask us, which you sort of implicitly did by coming to this page. Although the crowd was a little cowed by Rotherham's second, so were the team, really. Other than that, Town raised their game and the fans responded. Which was nice. A good lung workout is also guaranteed by rubbish referees and linesmen. Which brings us nicely to the next section.
Mr G Salisbury (Lancashire)
One suspects that the worst crimes against officiating this evening were committed by the linesmen rather than Mr Salisbury. We haven't a clue about Rotherham's goals, really, because the incidents in question were chuffing miles away from the Cod Almighty enclave. Mind you, Salisbury wasn't exactly right on the spot either, instead making the crucial decisions by remote control. If we're being jobsworthy about it, half of Rotherham's team should have been booked for their goal celebrations, and if we're not, there was the foul on, er, North, was it, when he was clean through and not even a yellow. Then the three-Miller group hug around Conlon inside the penalty area. We could go on. North should have been booked for that despicable dive as well. Marks out of ten: 3, without the kerrrazy decimal places. That's Salisbury's refereeing, not North's dive.
It was better than the Crewe game, you know.
Town: Forecast; Stockdale, Bennett, Atkinson, Widdowson; Clarke, Leary (Fuller 85), Sweeney, Hegarty; Conlon, North (Proudlock 79)
Subs not used: Boshell, Heywood, Jones, Linwood, Overton
Booked: Hegarty, Sweeney
Rotherham United: Warrington, Tonge, Fenton, Sharps (Cummins 54), Green (Joseph h/t), Warne (Liddell 82), Harrison, Mills, Law, Pope, Le Fondre
Subs not used: Annerson, Ellison, R Taylor, J Taylor
Booked: Cummins