Stevenage Borough vs Cambridge United

United line-up: Barrett, Chenery, Wilson (Barnwell 82'), Ashbee, Foster (Marc Joseph 45'), Campbell, Wanless, Benjamin, Taylor (Kyd 45'), Butler, Beall.
Subs not used: Marshall, Preece.
Sent off: Butler 20', Wanless 40'
Booked: Wilson (foul 66')
Ref: Mr B. Coddington (Sheffield).

[Keith Webb's match report] [Gareth Challis' match report] [Terry Wilby's match report]

Keith Webb's match report:
It's not often I'm left speechless after a game and I am known to defend referees, particularly when football fans see things through spectacles tinted with their clubs colours, but even now I am still astonished at the incredible incompetence of the 'official' tonight. That man should never again be allowed to take charge of a competitive match and it is fortunate he was not handling a big game in the Premier or at a ground where the fans can be troublesome as he may well have caused a riot.

Martin Butler is a complete prat for doing what he did, you cannot expect to kick out at another player and get away with it, even if you have just been hacked down and then trodden on. Even so a more level headed and professional official may have just counted to ten before deciding what to do and perhaps stuck to a yellow card as it was Butler's first offence. Having said that, then if a red is produced then the player only has himself to blame for being an idiot.

If that had been the Ref's only controversial decision of the evening then that in itself would have been fair game. What followed has to rank as one of the most amazing blunders I have ever seen in 22 years of watching football, including that played on parks on a Sunday morning.

Wanless and a Stevenage player went for the ball and the Stevenage guy appeared to stumble and fall of his own accord as Wanless carried through with his challenge and came away with the ball. The Stevenage player then let out a scream that I heard from 25 yards away and begun rolling around as if shot by a sniper. All this happened so quickly yet the ref produced the red card almost instantly even though the linesman was about two yards away and gave nothing. It was all so unreal, I mean Wanless had not commited a single foul prior to that nor could I remember the Ref speaking to him or anyone else for that matter before the 'incident'. Needless to say Wanless was gobsmacked and had to be led off the pitch as he just could not believe it, and being a completely honest guy he told McFarland at half time that he hadn't even touched the guy let alone fouled him. I hope that United can produce video evidence to back up his claim as the game is lost now and you could argue 'til the end of time whether him staying on the pitch would have changed the result. What does matter is the fact that he faces a lengthy ban as he can only have been sent off for violent conduct as the Ref went straight for red so he will be out for at least 3 matches, maybe 5.

As I said before it all seemed so unreal as we tore into Stevenage in the first 15 mins and Butler scored a screamer of a goal before the Ref stepped in to give us a hefty dose of 'unreality'.

Jamie Campbell then headed into his own net just after Wanless left the field and for a time it looked as things were going to get real ugly off the pitch as their prat of a number 10 decided to gesture at the United fans behind the goal and the Police had to step in to calm things down.

Full marks to those United players that the ref kindly allowed to stay on the pitch as they battled their hearts out and full marks to the fans for roaring them on. It was just too much to ask and after a couple of close calls Stevenage got a lucky rebound which gifted them their second goal, even after that the U's kept battling on and in the end Stevenage were glad to hear the final whistle.

It's not often that you'll see McFarland riled but throughout most of the second half he had to be restrained, along with John Taylor, by Stewards and then in the end by the Police as the ref continued to make some crazy decisions.

Sorry for ranting on so much but I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like what I saw tonight.

Keith

Additional comments on Wednesday 17th December:
Having seen the replays of both incidents now I am still seething at the sending off of Wanless. At worst he should have been booked for jumping with his arms raised but in no way was that violent conduct. The ref explains his decision by saying he red carded Wanless for intent.

Intent for what?...jumping for the ball??

Mr Coddington is a disgrace to his profession for first making the decision and then having seen the replay on TV saying that he based his decision on intent. Prat, prat, prat, prat...

Speaking of which I hope Butler gets a hefty fine for being so unprofessional and probably costing us the tie. Not only did he kick out at the bloke but he also pulled him back first, ok so he'd been kicked up in the air a few times before that but he should follow John Taylor's example and just pick himself up and let his football do the talking. Whatever punishment he gets he deserves for being almost as big a prat as the ref.

Having watched Basingstoke vs Cobblers on Sky I now feel even worse, the inconsistency in refereeing has never been so blatant, if Coddington had been reffing that match then I reckon the player count would have been 7-4 in Basingstoke's favour. Anybody who saw the game will have seen several late tackles go completely unpunished and Colin Hill escape with nothing more than a booking for leading with his elbow in a challenge and actually catching his opponent in the face, and quite properly being BOOKED for it.

I wonder if Mr Coddington was watching??

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Gareth Challis' match report:
Totally agreed. Last night made a mockery of football. If only Kyd's toe-poke had not been cleared off the line (well, near the line) at the start of the second half.

We can joke about bribery, but I wouldn't put it past the ref last night (and in the first game).

I didn't see the Butler incident clearly, but it hadn't been a dirty match up to that point, or even after the first sending off. Quite a clean game and with only one other yellow card in the rest of the 90 minutes, probably born more of frustration than dirtyness, you really have to wonder why the ref showed red.

The ref practically reached for his red card before Wanless even made his challenge.

It's gutting that bad refereeing can win a match for one team. If we had 11 on the field and lost 2-1 I'd be saying good luck to Stevenage at Swindon, but now I am hoping they get stuffed by 6 or 7. I'd even not be that pissed off if we had lost 1-0 at the Abbey -

Oh well ... We didn't want to go to Swindon again anyway ;-)

Well done done to the U's for battling and it was nice to see practically all of them pay a visit down to the travelling fans end to applaud us.

G.

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Terry Wilby's match report:
It was bloody cold last night, the result made it worse. The evening started off quite well, I had to buy a lamp from Argos, the only one left was the display model, so I got a free light bulb!

There was no expected early storm from Stevenage, we took the lead after 17 minutes, Butler running through with the ball and unleashing a 20 yard shot which flew into the top corner of the goal. 3 minutes later Butler was sent off, apparently for kicking out at a player, I was unsighted so I can't comment on the decision, however Butler seemed to have beaten the player then was pulled back or something.

5 minutes from the end of the half Wanless was sent off. It was a nothing type of tackle, even giving a foul was dubious. I assumed he was sent off for foul language, as he seemed to tell the referee what he thought of the decision. On the radio it was for following through with the tackle. From the curling free kick they equalised, an own goal from Campbell from about 6 yards. Barrett had come out trying to get the ball through a crowd of players, if he had stayed on his line he would have saved the ball easily. I wish that we could put in some decent free kicks like that though. The few we did have were usually put into the 'keepers arms unchallenged.

At half time Taylor and Foster came off for Marc Joseph and Kyd. We seemed to make better chances with 9 men than with 11, and could have scored a few times in the second half, Kyd having a close shot blocked, Beall also had a shot blocked, and forced a save from the keeper on one of the few times we managed a shot on target. We had defended well, saved once by the post, another shot kicked off the line. 15 minutes from the end they scored when a lucky deflection fell to one of their players about 10 yards out. Soon after Barnwell came on for Wilson. Still we made chances but it was not to be our night.

The referee let Stevenage players commit lots of fouls, any attempt by United players to get the ball was a free kick.

Benjamin needs a rest, he looked knackered almost from the start, when he did get shooting chances he made a hash of them, when trying to take defenders on he lost the ball, and didn't pass when he should have. I would have had him as a substitute to bring on at half time. Kyd looked a bit quicker than the last time he played, but seemed to lack first time control. Billy Beall had a super second half although his first half was not up to his normal standard, even so he was MoM for me. Chenery looked slow and scared to actually try to get to the ball first. Barrett had a couple of easy saves to make in the second half, in the first half there was a scare when a cross was caught in the wind, he managed to put it out for a corner off the crossbar.

Before the start of the game the linesman inspected the nets, but totally ignored the hole down by the post, despite the fans telling him. Maybe we can get the game replayed as the equipment was not up to standard (like the referee!). The annoying thing is that Stevenage are a crap team. We should have thrashed them at home and avoided the need for a replay. Who wanted to go to Swindon anyway.

And the lamp was the wrong one, despite the slip being written out by my wife, I should have known that it was the wrong one!

Ratings: Barrett 5, Chenery 4, Wilson 5 (Barnwell 5), Ashbee 6, Foster 5 (Marc Joseph 5), Campbell 5, Wanless 5, Benjamin 5, Taylor 5 (Kyd 5), Butler 6, Beall 7

Many thanks to Keith, Gareth and Terry for their reports and ratings.

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