As far as a feisty Kent Derby is concerned this one didn't disappoint. Although the gloss was soon taken off what promised to be a classic encounter thanks to a severe error of judgement from the man in black sending off Jo Woodgates after only 20 minutes.
If you're going to make a big call so early in the game then atleast get it right. Jo naturally retaliated after an opposing player deliberately administered an imprint of the bottom of her boot on her hand which the official failed to recognise, despite the evidence of the uncommisioned artwork tattooed on Jo. With little reaction from the surrounding players everyone was baffled as to why Jo was given a red card. Was it something she said? Hardly likely as it would be way out of character if she had.
At the end of the day it was poor game management. One team reduced to 10 while the opposing player gets off scott free.
Our team then fought like hell and there were times in the game when it was easy to forget we were a player down. Another diabolical decision wasn't far away when the referee stopped the game for a foul by a Fleet player less than 4 seconds before our girls scored. Then when play resumed awarded the restart to Ebbsfleet.
Strangely enough the excellent referee we had against Barking attended the match this afternoon. The fact he obviously hadn't been allocated a game but still went to watch a match suggests we could be looking at a future top flight referee here.
He also said today's official made the wrong decision and the goal should have stood.
Despite being down to ten our ladies were still the better side and the breakthrough finally came in the 76th minute when Emily Vaughan capitalised on a defensive error with a lightning strike which was justice on a personal level for Emily, who had been wacked twice previously by the opposition and got absolutely nothing from a referee, who by then I was looking forward to seeing the back of.
At 1-0 everything was looking good except for one thing.
I'd been keeping an eye on Charley Clifford most of the afternoon. The ex-Championship player from Charlton and Crystal Palace took up a central defensive position during the game.
After Vaughan's goal she disappeared. Then I noticed she'd moved further up the field and remember thinking if they equalise I'll bet my bottom dollar she'll have a hand in it.
Then in the 88th minute there she was curling a quality shot beyond Jade just as the finishing line was in sight.
I couldn't argue with that as I'd seen her play a few times several years ago. Apparently at one point the England national team had been looking at her too.
As for the final score I suppose it could have been worse once it was looking like ten against twelve after Jo's unfair dismissal so early in the game.
Given the circumstances it was a good point but still a hard pill to swallow.
DARTFORD 1-1 EBBSFLEET UNITED
Re: DARTFORD 1-1 EBBSFLEET UNITED
There was another string to the man-in-black's bow. He appeared to make up new laws to the game as he went along.
Sure, officials do have a hard time of it with the fans sometimes, but this one was another dimension.
You could write a whole story about the debacle over the first of Darts' disallowed goals - and you would still not get to fathoming out how he made his decision(s).
The end of the sequence of events when the Ebbsfleet goalie misjudged the ball and made a howler of a mistake to let the ball bounce over the line into the goal. But even then that wasn't the end of the sequence. He awarded a 'dropped-ball' to the goalie ........ on the edge of the penalty area!
Was he way out of his depth? .... yes, but he could still have looked at his linesman, furiously waving his flag and the crowd shouting for his attention, but who never looked.
This was a fierce encounter alright, there is no doubt about that, but the referee seemed to 'fuel' it with his strange behaviour and even stranger decisions.
As reported above, Darts' made such a fight of it, especially as for around 80 minutes of the match they played with only 10 'men'. How the referee didn't give a penalty from a nasty elbow in Emily Vaughan's back and neck is anybody's guess but worse still, the referee allowed the play to continue after this obvious bad head injury. He was so woeful, almost to the point of being disrespectful to the Laws of the game, especially about stopping play after a head injury.
Then, Darts were so unlucky not to have wrestled the full three points from the game when in the last 2 minutes Abbey Davies put over consecutive corners, brilliantly into the melee of players in the box. A defender headed from 'off the line', when many fans who witnessed it close-hand said the ball was well over the line. But I guess that's football for you.
Two points dropped? - possibly
One point gained? - definitely
A great battling performance from the Darts? - definitely.
Sure, officials do have a hard time of it with the fans sometimes, but this one was another dimension.
You could write a whole story about the debacle over the first of Darts' disallowed goals - and you would still not get to fathoming out how he made his decision(s).
The end of the sequence of events when the Ebbsfleet goalie misjudged the ball and made a howler of a mistake to let the ball bounce over the line into the goal. But even then that wasn't the end of the sequence. He awarded a 'dropped-ball' to the goalie ........ on the edge of the penalty area!
Was he way out of his depth? .... yes, but he could still have looked at his linesman, furiously waving his flag and the crowd shouting for his attention, but who never looked.
This was a fierce encounter alright, there is no doubt about that, but the referee seemed to 'fuel' it with his strange behaviour and even stranger decisions.
As reported above, Darts' made such a fight of it, especially as for around 80 minutes of the match they played with only 10 'men'. How the referee didn't give a penalty from a nasty elbow in Emily Vaughan's back and neck is anybody's guess but worse still, the referee allowed the play to continue after this obvious bad head injury. He was so woeful, almost to the point of being disrespectful to the Laws of the game, especially about stopping play after a head injury.
Then, Darts were so unlucky not to have wrestled the full three points from the game when in the last 2 minutes Abbey Davies put over consecutive corners, brilliantly into the melee of players in the box. A defender headed from 'off the line', when many fans who witnessed it close-hand said the ball was well over the line. But I guess that's football for you.
Two points dropped? - possibly
One point gained? - definitely
A great battling performance from the Darts? - definitely.