Man in the middle for todays match.

[PSR]

I read this and thought - "Thank God for small mercies" because this guy is the extreme to the one we had against Ipswich.

Referee Andy Penn from the West Midlands gets the job for the City Ground encounter between Forest and Blackpool this afternoon.

Unlike some of the officials that have paraded themselves around the City Ground pitch of late, Mr. Penn can be considered one of the better one's. Last time he had the privelege of officiating a game involving the Reds', was last seasons' 0-0 draw away at Doncaster. Two Forest players (Chambers and Garner), were booked in the stalemate at the Keepmoat.

So far this season, Mr Penn has refereed 6 games, in which he's dished out 6 yellow cards and 0 red.

He will be ably assisted on the lines by Mr. W. Barratt and Mr. M. Brown. The 4th official is Mr. G. C. Law.

 

[Annesley Red]

Next good ref will be the first

 

[adam09]

Typically crap officiating... didn't expect anything different!

 

[grhdylan]

He would've been better with a orange shirt on, their 12th player!

 

[eezzeetiger]

I thought the linesman in front of Main stand first half was poor..

Not many Cards in a good tempered match...

Surely he wasn't that bad then

 

[saunders:]]

He was ok, just the linesmen who were poor. He made one bad decision on a corner he gave as a goal kick but that was about it.

 

[TOMBARNESFORESTFAN]

He was ok, just the linesmen who were poor. He made one bad decision on a corner he gave as a goal kick but that was about it.

what?!
the ref couldnt give handball to save his life, he let the linesmen overrule him for the penalty, when i couldnt see who or when the offside was, and stop started the game constantly.
a joke today

 

[saunders:]]

what?!
the ref couldnt give handball to save his life, he let the linesmen overrule him for the penalty, when i couldnt see who or when the offside was, and stop started the game constantly.
a joke today

He had a terrible view of the handball, lino shouldve given it. And one of the appeals for handball i can tell you definitely hit the players stomach not the hand, so he got it right.

 

[adam09]

The 'penalty'/offside decision was a baffling one.

It may or may not have been offside, I suspect it was... just. BUT it should have been brought back for a foul on Cohen. A player slid into him and made him stumble, meaning he delayed the throughball to McGoldrick slightly, which caused the offside. There was no advantage for us, but they got the free kick... brilliant!

Though it was funny when the ref was trying to play an advantage to Blackpool and he blew the whistle just as one of their players got the ball and broke forward Useless.

 

[TheDude]

He had a terrible view of the handball, lino shouldve given it. And one of the appeals for handball i can tell you definitely hit the players stomach not the hand, so he got it right.

The linesman should of seen the handball but they never do and yeah the other apeal his the players chest.

 

[The Vicar]

I thought the ref was the best this season. Certainly performed better than Billy.

 

[Forest Gurl]

One thing that worried me was one of the linesmens' inability to call offside in the second half.

An attacking player is NOT offside when he is stood between two defending players, in line with them, as the ball is played forwards. It can't be interpreted that way whichever way you interpret the rules.

Aside from that, during the game I thought the officials weren't great, but in hindsight a lot of the calls were pretty dubious anyway...

 

[EmJay]

The offside/penalty thing. Obviously having not been there I didn't see it but on Radio Nottingham they were pretty insistent the linesman flagged quickly, long before the any potential penalty.

Therefore regardless of whether it would have been a penalty had it been "in-play" it's no penalty.

 

[RICH1977]

The offside/penalty thing. Obviously having not been there I didn't see it but on Radio Nottingham they were pretty insistent the linesman flagged quickly, long before the any potential penalty.

Therefore regardless of whether it would have been a penalty had it been "in-play" it's no penalty.

tbh I actualy thinked he flaged for the trip/tackle from behind on cohen not offside but I might be wrong

 

[Flaggers]

The flag was (rightly or wrongly) for offside. It went up quickly and decisively.

The ref was about to blow and point for the penalty, but (correctly) looked at his officials - saw the flag, and gave the earlier decision.

I don't agree with it (since I'm totally partisan) but it was correct, and I can't help but be amused at the rest of the ground chanting "You don't know what you're doing!" - while I may not agree with the decision, the way in which it was made was ABSOLUTELY and unarguably correct...

 

[RICH1977]

looking on sky+ once again when cohen plays the ball there only earnshaw in a offside possition but he isnt interfering with play so did the flag go up then or after he receives the ball in the box?

 

[cmw]

He would've been better with a orange shirt on, their 12th player!

I take it you didn't go.
The 1st homer we've had all season.

 

[Snake]

Forest fans don't like any referee. I wonder if this is the reason why they come here and give most of the 50/50 decisions to the away side, just to stick two fingers up to us all. Yesterday's referee was okay. The offside decision from the assistant looked iffy (because he gave McGoldrick off), but Earnshaw was probably offside anyway, and as he gained an advantage by being in that position, I'm happy that he was offside in my mind, even if the interpretation of the offside rule is so f*cked nowadays that you'd probably see different outcomes with different assistant referees.

I thought the referee did deserve great credit for his leniency in not handing out yellow cards all over the place. That's good refereeing in my book.

 

[Strummer]

I thought the referee did deserve great credit for his leniency in not handing out yellow cards all over the place. That's good refereeing in my book.

Absolutely - it was a nice change to see a Ref who was prepared to talk to the players, telling them to calm down or cut out the fouling (as he did with both Cohen and McKenna!) rather than reaching for the yellow card.

And the lino's offisde decision was correct, and the flag went up well in advance of the penalty shout (I sit in the lower BC stand, and had a perfect view of it) both the Linesman and Referee got it spot-on, as the Radio Nottingham commentary suggested.

Had the flag not gone up, it would have been a penalty.

 

[adam09]

It still should have been a free kick for the trip on Cohen, rather than an offside. The foul came first.