QPR 1 Stoke 1
There was nothing riding on this for Rangers today, and a good job too or I doubt whether the referee would have made it out alive. Rangers took the lead when Martin Rowlands cunningly fired a free kick into the mass of balloons at the near post. The visiting keeper managed to keep three balloons out but the ball squirmed home. Stoke weren't really very good and laboured during the first half, although apparently they hit the post while I was having a quick pit stop.
Stoke stepped it up somewhat in the second half and Dominic Matteo managed to spoon the ball over when it looked easier to score Brian. Then referee T Kettle (really, and remember the name) stepped in. Some websites list the bookings with reasons, for example Smith (deliberate handball) and Jones (persistent fouling). In this case it would just say Everyone (everything). He booked everyone for everything. It was no surprise when Sampsa Timoska was sent off without even making contact with his opponent.
Stoke poured forward against the ten men but lacked the quality to fashion much in the way of chances. Paul Furlong and Marc Bircham came on for a last hurrah but unfortunately just as Bircham entered to a massive ovation, Rangers fell asleep at the back and Stoke walked in an equaliser through Mamady Sidibe. Amazingly, Furlong was clean through on goal in injury time for the ultimate story-book finish but sadly his shot was saved and that was that.
The players came out afterwards for a warmly received lap of, hmm, well honour's a bit strong after finishing 18th so how about respect. And respect is due to Furlong and Bircham who have been mainstays of the club for five seasons, best of luck to them in the future. Rangers will have to rebuild this summer but I'm fairly confident that we have the right manager and a backbone of a team in place to push forward with.
Stoke stepped it up somewhat in the second half and Dominic Matteo managed to spoon the ball over when it looked easier to score Brian. Then referee T Kettle (really, and remember the name) stepped in. Some websites list the bookings with reasons, for example Smith (deliberate handball) and Jones (persistent fouling). In this case it would just say Everyone (everything). He booked everyone for everything. It was no surprise when Sampsa Timoska was sent off without even making contact with his opponent.
Stoke poured forward against the ten men but lacked the quality to fashion much in the way of chances. Paul Furlong and Marc Bircham came on for a last hurrah but unfortunately just as Bircham entered to a massive ovation, Rangers fell asleep at the back and Stoke walked in an equaliser through Mamady Sidibe. Amazingly, Furlong was clean through on goal in injury time for the ultimate story-book finish but sadly his shot was saved and that was that.
The players came out afterwards for a warmly received lap of, hmm, well honour's a bit strong after finishing 18th so how about respect. And respect is due to Furlong and Bircham who have been mainstays of the club for five seasons, best of luck to them in the future. Rangers will have to rebuild this summer but I'm fairly confident that we have the right manager and a backbone of a team in place to push forward with.
posted by Andy_Ward @ 6:17 PM
1 Comments:
At 8:55 PM,
The Camel said…
I just checked and Kettle was also the ref for the Southampton game where he was dire and the Sunderland v Burnley game where he awarded 2 penalties which were as far away from being pens as were possible.
In short, he's a cunt. (Hope Lucy isn't reading this...)
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