Clyde v Partick Thistle

I never thought I'd ever be saying this, but Dougie McDonald was quite good yesterday.
As said already he let the game flow most of the time - the exact opposite of the way he used to referee games.

Decisions he got wrong - How Thistle's number 9 (Lennon ?) stayed on the park, never mind not even getting a yellow card defies belief. A very late tackle on Cherrie, and 2 blatant dives (one of which was so bad it was laughable) and he never got a booking for any of them.
The Clyde penalty - I'm not sure. It looked a bit on the soft side to me.

Apart from that I thought he was ok. 7/10.

7/10 and yet you point to two or three key decisions which could've changed the match - yer aff yer heid.

I fail to see how the challenge on Cherrie was 'late', as he wasn't, or hadn't been, in posession of the ball. Reckless? Yes. Late? No.

Dougie McDonald is my favourite referee now (astonishing how well he's progressed) but I thought he was no better than 5/10. Still, he was clearly a class above the majority of referee's that get First Division matches.

In comparison to the other ref displays we've seen so far this season (Conroy (twice), McCurry etc) I can assure you McDonald's display was head and shoulders above any of them.

I'm a realist. I accept ref's can't possibly get everything right in a game. I could complain about decisions that went against us on Saturday, but as I said, I think we got a soft penalty.
The previous week we had something similar and Conroy never gave it - but then again I reckon a Ross County defender could have attacked one of our players with a machette and he'd still have waved play on.

Standard of officiating at this level can kind of be summed up when you look at those scheduled to take charge of this weekend's matches:

Airdrie vs Clyde (B Winter)
Dundee v Livingston (A Muir)
Dunfermline v Ross Co (C Boyle)
Partick Thistle v Morton (S Finnie)
QoS v St Johnstone (S Conroy)

The worst thing is, there will be six (probably) better referees acting as fourth official at the SPL matches. What is the point of that? Surely the best guys should be out refereeing every week?

Agreed. That is just plain stupidity.

Also, the referees above would benefit from watching referees in the SPL, whilst acting as fourth officials.

It puzzles me.

But all those refs can officiate at SPL level

Dundee v Livingston

Referee: Alan Muir.

I though he did ok, but a bit pernickety. Didn't show a lot of consistency, but is a lot better than the refs I've saw this season.

Rating - 6.5/10.

agreed i thought all his decisions were technically correct but didnt seem to be applied across the board(can think of a few decisions for each team that he didnt give)

B Winters

Airdrie U v Clyde 20/9/09

Inept!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1/10

Call me biased but I thought Winter did alright. Few decisions incorrect perhaps but nothing pivotal.

Lovering's red. No argument from either party.

Gemmill's yellow; kicking an opponent with reckless force whilst contesting the ball genuinely, in the opinion of the referee, merits unsporting behaviour. Which in turn merits a direct free-kick and a yellow card. If it was the case that Gemmill's kick was malicious and without obvious attempt to contest the ball then it's serious foul play/violent conduct and a straight red. It's fine line in the rule book between the two mind. I concur with Winter in that I thought Gemmill was attempting to win the ball without malice or the intent of harm toward Donnelly.

Gibson's kick on Airdrie's forward second half, likewise, was without malice I felt. He had his eyes clearly fixed on the ball. It was a zealous attempt at gaining possession. Yellow I felt was fair.

Kettlewell was a lot more cautious after he got his yellow. I don't feel he was guilty of persistent fouling.

7/10. His backward jog is hilarious (Winter), honestly, watch him. Michael Jackson eat your heart out.

You ARE biased (take off your gypsy-tinted specs)!

Kettlewell (no 6??) was booked after about 7/8 fouls (some bookable offences on their own) and MUST have been in double figures by the end!

Was Winters promised some Hun merchandise by Brown at the end or a free Clyde shirt as he was p!sh!

1/10

Terribly bitter. I was discussing this with my Dad last night that although there was a red card and plenty of yellows, the only one I could really argue with was Neil McGregor's. People might say he could have waited a bit before showing his cards but when the first booking is for nearly taking a guys head off, the next decision results in a straight red and Ohnesorge then tugged back a guy running clear down the wing, he didn't really have much choice with his early decisions. To answer the above query, Kettlewell had one more foul after his yellow card, when Di Giacomo ran straight into him down in the corner.

He's not my favourite referee but I thought he did well in a tough game to referee. 8/10 from me.

Like you wouldnt have moaned if the shoe was on the other foot? He bottled most major decisions (Lovering excepted) and generally ruined the game, read the Scotland on Sunday's match report, the first paragraph- how the ref ruined the game. Now pull your head out of the sand (on more than this thread) and go have a chat with dad about something else, eh?

Winters - Not perfect by any means, but again much better than Conroy or McCurry for instance.

Gemmill's should only have been a red if it was deliberate, and it clearly wasn't. Careless yes, deliberate no.
Same goes for Gibson.
Ohnesorge and Clarke correctly booked.
I don't remember all these Kettlewell fouls the Airdrie fans saw/imagined.
Mcgregor's wasn't even a foul never mind a booking - and was the only blatant mistake I can remember.

7/10.

Steve Conroy (Queens vs Saints)

Bit of a shocker but I'm getting so used to it now that it takes something really bad to get to me. Thought, as SD pointed out elsewhere, Stewart Kean seemed to be treated differently to every other player on the park and was awarded a FK whenever a player went near him. It was a physical game but the problem wasn't the way he handled that but just his general lack of consistency, that left you puzzled by several decisions. PKs? No doubt about Weatherston's and I'd have been gutted if we'd lost one at the end in the manner Queens might have. Think the one with Rutkiewicz in the first half would have been harsh as well. The ball was only going to hit his face/body in any case.

Because he didn't influence the result, a generous 4/10.

Eddie Smith, Partick v Dundee

What can I say...probably the best ref I've seen so far this season.

He let the game flow and although he missed a couple of handballs (one of which Antione-Curier was guilty of), he generally had a good day at the office.

I think 8/10 is fair.

Eddie Smith mad no serious mistakes other than to fall on his arse but he gets an extra point for that. No big decisions to make in what was a God-awful game, could maybe have booked whatever Dundee player tugged back Donnelly when he was on a counter-attack.

9/10- almost certainly the highest mark I'll give this season.

Crawford Allan. Clyde v Dunfermline Athletic.

Had Dunfermline on his coupon by the looks of it.

1/10

Dougie McDonald (Saints vs Airdrie)

I quite like Dougie McDonald as a referee and thought he was ok yesterday, bar the bizarre incident when he blew for a seemingly imaginery foul on Robertson. Few occasions where he could have tried to let the game flow a bit more but certainly nothing to get worked up about. I think I'm still recovering from the twat we had in the Co-Op Cup game at Almondvale so am in a generous mood with regards a mark...

7/10

Crawford Allan 7/10

Clyde fans always need excuses for being pish

Although his assistant was very cowardly considering some of Clyde's horrible challenges

Stephen Finnie (Livi vs Saints)

Don't like Finnie but he wasn't too bad yesterday, certainly compared to some. Not really much to say about his performance. He didn't go as far as being unnoticed but he maintained good control over a game that wasn't hard to referee.

6/10

I thought Finnie was a bit useless actually Radford. Constantly inventing fouls for both sides. It wasn't an overly physical match but just about every aerial challenge was met with the sound of the ref's whistle. His assistant in front of us was particularly hopeless, missing Martini clearly handling outside his box.

Euan Norris, Morton 1-0 Clyde

Twat, not using him as an excuse for us losing. We are quite frankly pish. But he didn't let the game flow. And Finlayson and Trouten should have seen red for their challenges.

CLYDE VS MORTON

Euan Norris- Didn't let the game flow. Just kept pulling players from both teams up for stupid ''fouls''. 2/10

Euan Norris, Morton v Clyde.

5/10.

Failure to use the red card on more than one occasion.

Im quite suprised tbh!

Refs in our last 4 games V County, Morton, Clyde and Partick have been not to bad

Not to mention the blatant shove in the back on Murray Davidson which should have given us a penalty in the first half.

Thought he was an incompetent clown (isn't that phrase seeming familiar) to be honest as was the St. Johnstone side linesman. As mentioned, Martini clearly handled outside the box as well. I also thought Finnie should have stamped down on that bruising arsehole Hardie and his overly-physical game.

Ref S Finnen on sat County v QOS 1/10..............HONKING

Craig Charleston had a terrible game on Saturday. Firstly, the game itself should have been postponed; I've not seen one person say otherwise, including both managers.

Secondly, he displayed shocking inconsistencies in his decision making (example, booking Wilson for an innocuous nudge on a Livi player who had slipped to the ground, so it caught him on the head - yet, didn't book McPake for chopping down McLennan on the edge of the box). In general, he gave us a lot in the second period and them a lot in the first. Trouten's yellow card was a terrible decision.

2/10.

St. Johnstone v Thistle - Colin Brown, 8/10. Didn't get much wrong. The best refereeing performance I've seen all season.

I'd go along with that PTFC27. Brown was totally in control and got everything right. Saints probably should have had another penalty in the first half - but he clearly couldn't see it and didn't get any help from his Main Stand side linesman so can't blame him for that.

Chris Boyle - Dundee v Airdrie Utd

Very erratic with poor decisions against both teams. Airdrie were denied a clear penalty in the first half (we got a free-kick instead for diving, although no yellow card was forthcoming) and we had two very strong claims turned down in the second (Deasley manhandled and Curier pushed down).

He then had a spell where he seemed to enjoy waving yellow cards about.

And then in a totally bizarre incident, as the Airdrie keeper was lining up to take a free kick from the box, Benedictus went down injured for us and his treatment was taking a while. So the keeper started kicking the ball back and forth with his defenders to keep warm but Boyle thought he'd actually taken the kick and ordered the ball to remain stationary.

He also didn't ever seem to have control of the game at any point.

Overall, 4/10.

Fair Assessment.

Brian Winter - 4/10 for general inconsistency and not letting the game flow.

Calum Murray - Dunfermline v St Johnstone - 3/10.

Pretty bizarre decisions all over the park. One of the best was when Gavin Swankie ran straight at the Dunfermline man in possession, and jumped at him with his leg up. It was a bizarre tackle and the whistle went, as expected. Except he gave the free kick to Saints. Absurd.

Mike McCurry......Ross county v Clyde 0/10, that is all, the least said about that man the better.

Agree with the guys above about Colin Brown last week, I thought he was fine.

Murray was the poorest we've had a good while on Saturday, which was disappointing as he's probably the most high profile. Felt he kept looking to make decisions when they weren't needed and got a few obvious things wrong. Debate over the three goals too.

Didn't manage to make my blood boil like Steven Nicholls at Livingston but still poor...

3/10

Dunfermline v Dundee - Steve O'Reilly

For once, the officials did a good job, a few mistakes but they are only human.

8/10

Saints v Ross County.....

Scott McDonald ..............INEPT........4/10

Queen Of The South v Morton - David Somers.

7/10, nothing really to deal with. A bit quick to book Wake though.

Brian Winter - Partick Thistle 2-0 Clyde.

Done okay, possibly should have red carded Brown for his leg-breaking challenge. Other than that, surprisingly he had a good game.

8/10

You could see the Brown challenge coming a mile off after he had let a couple of meaty challenges go without yellows prior to that. Didn't really have a lot to do other than that but should have booked the Clyde number 8 for a pretty dodgy dive. 5/10.

Partick Thistle vs Clyde

Brian Winters.

Had a relatively good game but he should have sent Brown off for his challenge on Donnelly.

6/10

Which one? He had three.

Brown should've seen red.

Winter had a decent game in general but is the sort of Andrew Johnson of refereeing - tries hard but isn't class.

Scott McDonald - St Johnstone v Ross County - 2/10

Hopeless. Missed numerous blatant handballs and fouls and just generally didn't have a clue which way obvious throw ins should have gone - so made it up. Not helped by East Stand assistant.

agree the east stand linesman, was confident in making his own decisions, every time looked at the ref before raising his flag!

Dougie McDonald - Dundee v Queens

"Bizarre" doesn't quite sum up his performance.

Odd decisions for free-kicks and completely missed his linesmen's flags on THREE separate occasions, one time awarding us a penalty, taking up his position for it then glancing over to the linesman and seeing the flag. A quick conversation and he (correctly, from the point of view that the flag was up; whether it was actually offside is up for debate) gave Queens the free-kick.

4/10

You've been generous, I think.

Stephen Finnie

What an awful referee. He made terrible decisions for both teams and was determined to ruin the game. Too many bookings and stupid fouls for my liking.

2/10