WSL1 19/20 | Reading + Ref v United | Sun 2nd Feb at 2pm

[jojojo]

We beat them 2-0 at the LSV this season. They beat us twice, in cup competitions, last season. They're currently one point behind us in the League, so they're more or less on the same level as us. It should be a good contest, Reading are usually a strong physical challenge, tough defensively and good at cashing in on errors. The match is live on the FA player.

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[jojojo]

Team news. Leah Galton still not back and we know Hanson is going to be out for "a while". So it's a small subs bench again. May from the U21 team is named as a sub.

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[jojojo]

22 minutes in and no goals. United doing most of the attacking but not many real chances. In fact I think Jess Sigsworth's attempt a couple of minutes ago was our first shot on target.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

22 minutes in and no goals. United doing most of the attacking but not many real chances. In fact I think Jess Sigsworth's attempt a couple of minutes ago was our first shot on target.

Do you think Casey will look for a more prolific goalscorer for next season?

 

[jojojo]

Do you think Casey will look for a more prolific goalscorer for next season?

I think she'll have to if we're going to get closer to the big three

Ross just shows no signs of being good enough. Sigsworth is a hard worker and reliable, but doesn't have that wow factor that the key front players at the big three have.

Lauren James has the wow, but not the experience. With Galton she's got magic though.

And as I type that Lauren James scores

 

[top1whoisman]

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[DomesticTadpole]

I think she'll have to if we're going to get closer to the big three

Ross just shows no signs of being good enough. Sigsworth is a hard worker and reliable, but doesn't have that wow factor that the key front players at the big three have.

Lauren James has the wow, but not the experience. With Galton she's got magic though.

And as I type that Lauren James scores

I like Jess, more than somebody who will get an assist. She works like crazy and you need that. I know I left for a minute and James has scored. She is something else.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

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That is a really good goal.

 

[jojojo]

HT and United are leading 0-1 from a Lauren James goal.

We had the ball in the net again later, but it was ruled out for offside.

 

[Maestro14]

It's been a decent first half. We're forcing Reading into a lot of mistakes with our pressing, but we're not really getting the most out of it.

I think she'll have to if we're going to get closer to the big three

Ross just shows no signs of being good enough. Sigsworth is a hard worker and reliable, but doesn't have that wow factor that the key front players at the big three have.

Lauren James has the wow, but not the experience. With Galton she's got magic though.

And as I type that Lauren James scores

Definitely agree. In most of the games we've played against the top teams, we've given them a good battle but just lacked real quality in attack. A top striker would turn a lot of our defeats into points and would see us a lot closer to the top 3.

 

[jojojo]

Lauren James flights a beautiful ball across the face of goal but no can quite get onto it.

52 minutes, still 0-0

 

[jojojo]

Reading get a penalty. Fara Williams takes it but Mary Earps saves and we still lead 0-1.

 

[Maestro14]

Yes Mary!!

 

[top1whoisman]

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[Maestro14]

These fecking referees... Zelem heads it out for a corner and instead the ref has given another penalty for handball! fecking ridiculous! 1-1

 

[jojojo]

Reading get another penalty. This time for a mystery handball offence by Zelem - I didn't see a handball, but no good Replay to see it again.

This time Williams scores 1-1

 

[Maestro14]

Why are the referees in this league so shit? Every time.

 

[jojojo]

These fecking referees... Zelem heads it out for a corner and instead the ref has given another penalty for handball! fecking ridiculous! 1-1

The penalty came about a minute after Casey Stoney got booked for saying something amiss - odd coincidence that. I sometimes get the idea that we aren't much loved in the women's game.

 

[jojojo]

Amy Palmer and Rebecca May come on to replace Sigsworth and Ross. 5 minutes to get the three points.

 

[jojojo]

Ends 1-1

Good first half from us, Reading were stronger in the second, so it became a much more even game, but they still needed two penalties (one converted) to draw.

 

[Maestro14]

A point away to Reading isn't worst result. We didn't do enough in the second half to secure the three points. Absolutely sick of the refs in this league though. I've lost count of the number of times they've made bizarre calls against us. I don't even think the first one was a penalty, but the second one was a disgrace.

 

[top1whoisman]

The state of refereeing...

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[DomesticTadpole]

The state of refereeing...

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She headed it.

 

[jojojo]

Yep, it still looks the same as when I saw it the first time. I'd wondered if I wasn't paying attention and Katie had perhaps put her hand up in front of her face and turned it into a debate. Whatever the ref saw I don't see from that angle. I still suspect we're being the punished for being newbies in the game, or maybe they just don't like hearing Casey complain - it'll be interesting to see if she can resist the temptation to complain about this, it'll take a lot of self-control.

I wonder if the FA are starting to see the dangers of TV coverage for amateur refs in a pro game?

 

[jojojo]

Another nice capture from 48hours, ref even rattled the normally unrattleable Jackie Groenen

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[top1whoisman]

Kind of happy to see so many players (plenty non-United too) and others react to this on twitter.

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[jojojo]

All our players are going to get charged over this aren't they

Still, not to worry. We're out of the cups so it's not as if the refs can do too much more to us now.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

All our players are going to get charged over this aren't they

Still, not to worry. We're out of the cups so it's not as if the refs can do too much more to us now.

That was pure incompetence, shouldn't be given anymore games. She surely will be questioned about it. Does Casey have to do a report on the ref. That should be funny.

 

[top1whoisman]

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[top1whoisman]

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[top1whoisman]

Reading captain.

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[Maestro14]

Yep, it still looks the same as when I saw it the first time. I'd wondered if I wasn't paying attention and Katie had perhaps put her hand up in front of her face and turned it into a debate. Whatever the ref saw I don't see from that angle. I still suspect we're being the punished for being newbies in the game, or maybe they just don't like hearing Casey complain - it'll be interesting to see if she can resist the temptation to complain about this, it'll take a lot of self-control.

I wonder if the FA are starting to see the dangers of TV coverage for amateur refs in a pro game?

Are the refs in this league not even at professional level? Not that that surprises me in the least with the amount of poor decisions they make, but that's appalling when you consider that only professional teams are allowed to compete in WSL. That cannot be allowed to continue into next season.

 

[Fitchett]

Maybe it's a cunning plan to make us less critical of the poor standard of refereeing in the men's Premier League.

 

[buchansleftleg]

That's 3 appalling errors on the trot in Uniteds games.

They will end up killing this league off if this continues. Players will end up getting injured or just fed up and move to USA.

How has the standard of referring been worse in the premier league than it was in the Championship?

 

[48 hours]

Maybe it's a cunning plan to make us less critical of the poor standard of refereeing in the men's Premier League.

or a plan to make us less critical of VAR

 

[jojojo]

Are the refs in this league not even at professional level? Not that that surprises me in the least with the amount of poor decisions they make, but that's appalling when you consider that only professional teams are allowed to compete in WSL. That cannot be allowed to continue into next season.

They're paid match fees (about £60 this season I think) + travel expenses. In principle I believe they're the same level of referees/assistants as the ones used at the top of the men's non-League pyramid (National League and National League North/South) but they include some refs who only referee women's games, who are also supposed to be at that level (or better).

I believe the plan is to make refereeing some women's games compulsory for people working their way up the pyramid - so that basically anyone who wants to referee in League1/2 has to do some WSL games as part of their training. So that should mean they'll pick up the best of the National League refs for most games.

I don't know how much experience of WSL1 (or semi-pro men's football) todays ref has. Watching the match live it looked like she got rattled by something Casey said, and called the penalty without really seeing anything - then panicked and booked Zelem and then Sigsworth to shut us up, rather than going over and chatting to the assistant until she'd cooled off. But who knows. The fact is that in semi-pro football the error doesn't get broadcast live, repeated on twitter and lead to a lot of moans/memes. Tough job for somebody who does it in their spare time and gets very little for it.

 

[top1whoisman]

Agreed @jojojo - this is on WSL and the FA.

 

[top1whoisman]

Zelem retweeted this.

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Will be interesting to see whether the authorities react. Probably won’t, probably would if this was happening in the PL with PL players.

 

[top1whoisman]

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[jojojo]

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Just to add a bit of context from that interview, she's categorised as a Level 3 / W1 ref.

For the men's game that's the National League North/South sort of level (tier 6 of the pyramid in the men's game in England). However many female refs opt to become men's game assistants once they reach that level, because the fitness tests for assistants are easier than the ones for refs if you want to work in the professional game (like Sian Massey).

The idea of her W1 status is to let her progress as a ref in the women's game, even if she doesn't continue to climb the men's game ladder as a ref.

It's good to be reminded of the human side of the story again as well. By day a railway worker, when she gets a weekend off she's a ref. Her description of the abuse she got reffing an U10 match and how bad she felt because her parents were watching is telling - it's no wonder it's hard to find refs.