Tim Rose faces the wrath of the F.A after a furious rant directed towards the referee after the match. CCK were stunned by a 2-1 defeat at the hands of American Express and perhaps more so by a series of unexplainable decisions by the man in the black.
The Badgers were in confident mood heading into the match after enjoying back to back victories, and it took little time for their passing football to create chances. Shots from Mike Morrison, Dave Jones, and Matt Vitty all forced saves from the keeper or narrowly missed the target. It was one-way traffic, and Vitty thought he’d opened the scoring when he slotted past the keeper, only for the offside flag to be raised. The decision was a correct one, and CCK fans will reflect in wonder if only those later in the match could have matched that accuracy. A rare foray forward from Amex shocked the CCK defence as a long ball was latched onto and then a run forward culminated in a decent finish from a tight angle. It was rough justice for the Badgers who had been so dominant and it rocked the players. A scrappy spell ensued which played into Amex hands and this is in all probability when the refereeing calamities began. Mike Morrison among other players to a lesser extent received a kicking from over-zealous tackles. Little attempt to play the ball from American Express players was not punished and this set a precedent for the rest of the game. Then came another refereeing howler. A lofted cross from the right was played to the back post where goalkeeper Will Drury was roughly treated by two players in black and blue, the ball found the net but the referee couldn’t find his whistle it seemed and the goal stood. At 2-0 down despite only two attempts on goal from Amex, CCK felt hard done by and at the break Tim Rose had a hard task to lift his players for the second half.
The kicking’s continued in the second half, and with all due credit, the referee showed great consistency. He was consistently poor! No warnings, plenty of false advantages, and few free kicks did little to help CCK’s cause, instead it left CCK players in severe danger of injury. Morrison continued to battle through the machete’s as he dribbled past an incompetent midfield that had been allowed to bend the rules to stop him. They still couldn’t and when Morrison passed through to Matt Vitty and the net bulged it seemed CCK were right back in the game. The flag stayed down, the players ran off in celebration, surely the referee couldn’t make another shambles of his duties. But then again anyone who watched the 60 minutes preceding the event would have little surprise at the resulting confusion. With no reason whatsoever he waltzed over to his assistant and then awarded an offside decision that baffled players and fans alike. More chances came and went as CCK continued to play some decent football. Amex’s attacks were increasingly rare as they struggled to get out of their own half, and it was a matter of time before CCK got themselves back in the game. A Dave Jones corner was headed goal-wards by Mike Morrison and the keeper parried, only for substitute Norman Di Giamberardino to smash the ball into the back of the net. The referee probably considered his options before allowing the goal to stand, but perhaps it pained him to do so. It certainly didn’t pain him to wave away CCK protests when another substitute Ben Tucker was pushed over inside the American Express box in the final moments of the game. 2-1 was not a fair reflection of the game, but against 12 men CCK were always going to struggle slightly.
Tim Rose broke his silence with The Argus and used his interview to rant about the referee, “It was an absolute disgrace. I’m just lucky that my players weren’t hurt. As for their second goal, it wasn’t just a foul, it was GBH on my keeper, and it seemed we weren’t allowed to breathe on their players, yet when Ben Tucker gets shoved to the floor in the last minute the referee didn’t have the bottle to give it. He has done a few of our games in the past and been alright, but his performance today was summed up by the disallowed goal, it had everyone totally confused!” Tim Rose may find himself in hot water after his comments as The F.A may consider taking action as a result of his post-match comments. However, he may earn support from a surprise source. The assistant referee who kept his flag down broke his silence and tried to cast some light on the decision to disallow Matt Vitty’s goal, “I am as confused as you, he (the referee) came over to me even though I kept the flag down and asked me if the scorer was offside. I told him clearly that the player who scored was not offside and that the player on the other wing was the only player beyond Amex’s offside trap, and for some reason he gave the offside.” CCK’s frustrated players mustn’t dwell on the injustice of their defeat for too long as they have a crucial Cup tie against Montpelier Villa at Sussex University next week.
