Second half had just kicked off, when I said...
"I think the ref's had a good first half"
...almost immediately afterwards, Melbourne gets wiped out after the ball had gone, which the ref missed, and he then completely imploded.
Seriously, I don't mind if a ref is poor, as long as they are consistently poor, and for both sides. Cole gets tripped on the edge of the area, no free-kick. But then Weir makes a great tackle, getting the ball cleanly, and it is a free-kick and booking? No complaints about the second yellow, but the first was wrong.
And was he (and the linesman) the only ones who didn't see a two handed shove in the penalty area?
If Stoke had half a dozen yellow cards too, then fair enough. But five yellow cards, with one red, for us, while none for them?
Dreadful official, thankfully we got the result we deserved. I hope the ref enjoys his lift home on the Stoke team bus!