Sorry for the long post, but worth looking at in more detail.
I had the luxury of watching the iFollow footage today with advance warning of the main controversial incidents, which I have replayed several times.
1) Frecklington disallowed goal: Rhead was level at worst - goal should have been allowed, although it was the linesman who gave it offside.
2) Rhead disallowed goal: this is a difficult one because the film isn't clear. Rhead definitely jumps with his hands down at his side, so it is difficult to see how he could have pushed Jacobson first without a speed and sleight of hand akin to Paul Daniels in his heyday. Jacobson also goes down with his hands above his head, which I feel is always a hallmark of a dive. I think Rhead knocks Jacobson out of the way with his body, not his hands. Inconclusive, though.
3) Anderson penalty incident: Anderson slows down and appears to veer slightly sideways into the path of the defender behind him, so no penalty. Why didn't he just go for goal instead? Silly.
Conclusion: one game-changing incident that he clearly got wrong, although that was the fault of the linesman.
The main niggle I have with the ref is his inability to do anything about the time wasting. The goalkeeper took between 19 and 29 seconds to take every goal kick (I timed them all) from the moment he picked up the ball to the moment he kicked it. The pattern was always the same: collect ball very slowly, wave arms in the direction of team mates, return to six-yard box very slowly, place ball on six-yard line, walk slowly backwards to goal line, wave arms in the direction of team mates again, wait a more few seconds, then kick ball.
The ref actually has a word with the goalkeeper about his time wasting after 39 minutes and clearly indicates that is what the warning is for. He then permits the goalkeeper to continue doing it for the next 51 minutes without a whimper.
Throw-ins also followed a pattern: one player collects the ball slowly and passes it eventually to the one taking the throw-in; player picks up ball, takes several paces forward, gestures at team mates for no apparent reason, takes a few more steps forward, goes to throw the ball, stops, gestures at team mates again, waits a few seconds, then throws it.
All very deliberate, and very orchestrated.
Reaction from the ref: nil.
I calculate time to be added on at the end of the first half as 9 minutes, and 8 in the second half including substitutions.
He also booked Marcus Bean for what looked like a perfectly good tackle.
Overall, not as bad as the 1/10 being given on here by most, but pretty incompetent generally.
4/10, mainly for allowing himself to be played like a violin.
