Originally Posted by
the_butcher
Exactly right. TBH, im surprised it has even come to this. They were contentious issues but not necessarily blatantly wrong (besides zad's).
Here's my take:
Issue 1 - The pen
Heskey gets to the ball first and is then clattered into by McGlinchey. To me that's a foul. As soft as it may or may not be, we've all seen things like this given. It wasnt as if Heskey dived with no contact. There was strong contact, Hesk went down, ref gave pen. Pretty simple really.
Issue 2 - Rose offside
Now, the linesman is looking across the line. McBreen is clearly offside. He makes a run for the ball and is just about to touch it when he realises Rose is behind him. He (McBreen) even deviates his run. Offside rule states "Making a gesture or movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts an opponent." To me, McBreen's run would have definitely attracted Biras attention, therefore he's offside.
Issue 3 - Zsansowieiwieleke offside
He was offside. Absolutely clear-cut, linesman should be praised. There was no need for "benefit of the doubt" because there was no doubt, he was clearly offside.
Issue 4 - Zad tackle(s)
First could have been straight red, but it was great to see the ref didnt want to ruin the game 12secs in. Well done ref. Seriously though, he could have received a straight red for either of the tackles, the one on Sterj should have atleast been a yellow.
All-in-all I dont agree they were completely robbed like theyre making out.