Four bookings and a sending off in Saturday’s Inverurie Loco. Works v. Lossiemouth match might suggest a bit of needle between the teams.
That was not the case in what turned out to be a rather tame affair, but played in good spirit. Why referees feel compelled to brandish coloured cards all the time is beyond me. Lossie’s Scott Wilson was unfortunate to be sent for an early bath. On Saturday I put it down to the relative inexperience of referee Liam Duncan who could have simply issued some early markers with a quiet word in the ear of one or two players and kept it at that.
When I got home I watched the Aston Villa v. West Bromwich Albion FA Cup quarter-final on television. The ordering-off of West Brom’s Claudio Yacob for a perfectly legal tackle demonstrated that this problem extends beyond the Highland League.
If such tackling is going to be penalised, we might as well get the cotton wool out now! For me, as a supporter, the nightmare scenario is an early red card in a match for which I have spent a lot of money travelling to watch at, say, Wick or Brora (and vice-versa). That causes an imbalance in the match right away. Do referees take that into account? I doubt it. The football authorities need to review this aspect and, as an alternative for relatively minor indiscretions, I would like to see the use of the “sin bin” for ten minutes and/or moving free-kicks ten yards forward as used in rugby union.
Locos were well in control on Saturday and deserved their 3-1 win. Strangely, however, Lossiemouth had Locos on the back foot late in the game after being reduced to ten men, although by that time the game was won.
I did not agree with the sponsor’s choice of Jordan Leyden as man-of-the-match (although he played well). Andy Hunter was my choice. Apart from his two goals, he was a constant threat and he is now emerging as a really good Highland League player after unfortunate spells of illness and injury.
With Neil Gauld and David Ross also on the way back, things are looking up at Harlaw Park. Wednesday evening’s derby clash with Turriff United should be a cracker in front of a large crowd. Locos have nothing to lose and will have a go!