Where I disagree with you is that I really do not understand how you can think that the squad, selection and tactics largely are working. We are 16th in the Fourth Division. This has been another season without progress, or with any promise of future progress, since our standard of play in general has been so poor. That is why I say it has been a failure.
Since 1960 we have never been in such a bad run as we are now. Previously the worst spell in my experience was the Kenny Hibbitt era from 1990 to 1994 when we finished 16th, 15th, 5th and 10th in this division. That was when the club was broke, and on the verge of bankruptcy. After Hibbitt was sacked, Chris Nichol came in and won automatic promotion in his first season. Sadler is not going to be anywhere near achieving that.
I am not going to argue with about how many points we will have at the end of the season, except to say that the most likely number is 62, and that it is unlikely to be outside the range 54-70.
We were very lucky on Saturday when we won despite our defenders giving Mansfield lots of golden opportunities. While I was delighted with the win, I was concerned at how poorly we defended - bad defenders donāt become good defenders just because opposition forwards miss open goals, and referees donāt award a goal when the ball has crossed the line.
While in principle, I agree with Clough - and thatās as far as the technology should go (no VAR please), I am not totally convinced that it was over the line. Looking over someoneās shoulder I caught a quick glimpse of a photo of the incident on tāinternet (which I cannot find) and while it looked over the line, I tried to judge, in the way that the TV does, what it might look like from a linesmanās perspective. It seem to me that it was one of those where the ball, was almost completely over the line, but not completely.
Yes we were lucky Saturday but I have seen a number of games where we have been unlucky. The non award of a clear penalty against FGR and the hitting the posts twice against Harrogate come immediately to mind. Maybe Saturday was due!
The āgoalā that wasnāt given makes up for the āgoal that wasnātā which was given against Evans. No technology at all please, it ruins the gameās spontaneity. The rub of the green and human error balance out over time Iāve always found.
The reason that the linesman couldnāt see if it crossed the line is because Farquharson is stood in his line of sight. The ref couldnāt see it either because of the crowd between him and the incident. And if neither of those could see the ball crossing the line then it isnāt a goal. A goal canāt be given if the officials didnāt see it. (not in this league anyway)
I canāt be totally convinced no, there may be a fraction of the ball thatās on the line and if thereās doubt the referee rightly should err on thew side of caution and not give the goal.
Look again. You can see that Smithās foot, and all of his leg, is behind the line, and the ball is behind his knee. I am not sure why our goalkeeper has positioned himself so deep into the goals, but he is at present riding his luck.
I think his right āballā is closer to the line than the actual football KingCrod. But as you say, it wasnāt given, move on, mind you if it was us I am sure there would be a fair few more posts discussing how it was Matās faultā¦
It looked clearly in at the time, almost everyone near me was laughing at how we had got away with something so blatant. If it was the other way round and it was our āgoalā weād be screaming blue murder at the injustice.
I doubt it will stop Mansfield going up, but quite amusing all the same.
It was over the line but at least there was some uncertainty and the officials were unsighted. For the Evans one, it was not even close - not only was the whole ball not over the line, no part of it was!
the other side is the in play bit .
