Phillips was one of the best players in the first half, but without any final product. His free-kicks have been poor all season, today was a continuation of that. How many times does he fail to clear the wall? His two wild thrashes at the ball in the second half were dreadful. At half-time, Gibson was my MotM.
Second half, we gave away a sloppy goal right at the start, which really put us under pressure. Yet, from there, we actually began to look like we wanted to score a goal, something we never looked likely to do in the first. Connolly was busy and Cole's determination led to the goal. The support really got going then too. But two penalty appeals both went against us. I thought the first was clearer of the two, but other people thought the second. Regardless, one or the other, if not both. But this was another referee who was determined not to give us anything.
Neither of them was as clear as Tuesday's appalling decision.
Cheltenham were allowed to foul and time waste whenever they wanted. As a result, whenever we started to build any momentum, the ref allowed them to time waste. Even their manager got in on the act, heading the ball away. At one of their corners, their player clearly kicked the ball away, then both the players turned and wandered off. Their keeper took an age to take every kick. At one point, the ref jogged over to him and had a word, then ran to the halfway line, blew his whistle, then we all waited for another thirty seconds before the keeper decided to kick the ball. I'm guessing 'the word' that he had was, "
take as much time as you want, I'm not going to book you for wasting it".
All in all, a poor game. Defeat in the first of two "
must win games". Looking at the fixtures, I'm struggling to see where we're going to pick up points. And now, we have to catch two teams, not just one. Fortunately, other sides appear determined not to capitalise, but we're looking like a relegation destined side.