Boreham Wood v Barrow Match Thread

[Middleton Nick]

You need to see more games BH79 and then you may reconsider. Barrow are unbeaten since mid August which is tremendous. Unfortunately we were not at our best saturday but hey ho,who is week in and week out.

[saltcellar]

Bennett was tripped by the Boreham Wood player who stuck his leg out as Bennett was back peddling to get the ball.

[Suffolk Blue]

Whilst I cant disagree with most of the points BH79 makes as regards the game - most of us along with Paul Cox would agree that the penalty was "fortuitous" - I do think he's confusing a lousy game played a week before Xmas in a ground with no real atmosphere in terrible conditions with two teams who he thinks are inherently poor. Borehamwood are definitely not a poor outfit and our record (record being the operative word) speaks for itself.

I did say in a previous post that the game was "horrible", however as someone who watches the majority of his games away from home, the suggestion that we are no better a team than we were 18 months ago is total cobblers. 18 months ago under Edmo we'd have lost that game 2-0 or 3-0 even with Cook in the squad. We've now played 4 games in the space of a couple of weeks where, in each case we've behind against Conf North, Conference and League 1 opposition and either saved the game or won it. Leaving aside the Harrogate replay we've not played at home since Guiseley nearly a month ago, but have won at a team in the Top half of League 1, won at the Team in 4th Place in the Conference and taken a point in a lousy game against the team in 8th.

Whilst there were some more "exciting" games in the Vanarama this weekend generally speaking we don't get treated to beautiful football. Cheltenham showed last season what it takes to win the Vanarama and they played some of the most one dimensional but nevertheless effective football in the division. If you want a marker for quality, go to Morecambe of a Saturday and see just how insipid League 2 football can be. I tend to watch a bit of Championship level football and am amazed that so many people turn up week in week out to spend £30 watching such poor quality fare. Thanks to the Football Trust the grounds are all in better nick and thanks to TV/Football League, you might not have up to pee up a wall or queue up at a clapped out burger van. But the on-field action is pretty dire.

[SKIPPER]

Wouldn't conclusively say it wasn't a penalty even if it was soft. The defender appears to kick the back of Ritchs' heel either deliberately or as he is aiming for the ball. Difficult to call it a dive as Ritch had his back to him and wouldn't have known he was there until the contact.

[Arvo]

It was not Bennett who got fouled for the penalty it was Harrison.
Are you sure you knew one Barrow player from another?

No, it was Bennett.

[Suffolk Blue]

Yes SKIPPER you are right. It is not easy to dive when the defender is coming effectively from behind you unless there is some form of contact. It was Bennett (not Harrison) who was "fouled" and he did go down like a giraffe that had just been shot. I thought it was just clumsy football but not a premeditated dive.

[Moribund]

Bennett's conduct there is embarrassing - he's waited for a touch and then collapsed to the floor. If the shoe was on the other foot, this forum would be livid.

[chipmunx]

Bennett is getting a lot of unwarranted stick for penalty incidents lately - but it's not his job to try and stay on his feet if he's fouled...

Against Eastleigh he was brought down for a pen - correct decision - defender had a hand on his shoulder and his right foot was clipped - soft pen - but correct.
Against Bristol Rovers he was brought down and got booked for diving - the video shows the keeper took out his right foot - should have been a penalty - even the 5 live commentary team said it was a stone wall penalty.
And now Boreham Wood away - Bennett was moving backwards and at the same time the defender got too tight to him - hit his left leg and Bennett went down. It takes far less to overballance a 6'3" striker than it does a 5'3" player. Softish penalty yes - but still a pen.
Bennett is a lot smarter than he's given credit for and his role in partnering Harrison upfront can't be underestimated.

[orpheus]

Bennett's conduct there is embarrassing - he's waited for a touch and then collapsed to the floor. If the shoe was on the other foot, this forum would be livid.

Bennett becoming a wee bit of a diver

[Moribund]

Bennett's conduct there is embarrassing - he's waited for a touch and then collapsed to the floor. If the shoe was on the other foot, this forum would be livid.

Bennett becoming a wee bit of a diver

To be honest, I've not really seen that from him in other games - just taking that incident in isolation, it is something he should be embarrassed about seeing back.
Absolutely no excuse for going down unless you are actually knocked to the floor, and accentuating any contact to make sure you win a penalty is exactly the same as diving.

[Blueherts79]

Evening all. To be clear on a couple of things I wasn't saying these were 2 poor teams as such just 2 poor teams on the day. It is interesting hearing other people's views though but I must say that as much as I want barrow to win and want to see things with a barrow slant as a supporter, it does amaze me how people who were stood a matter of feet from me can defend the awarding of that penalty. I would love to be able to say it was a penalty all day long but it simply wasn't. Like someone else has said if that had been given against us we would have been livid. The defender didn't come through him he was simply marking his man and stood his ground and like has been suggested by someone else the way he went over was embarrassing. Anyway - don't get me wrong I'm glad we got a point which keeps the unbeaten run going and I honestly don't think that the game on Saturday was a 'typical performance' everyone is entitled to an off day. Onwards and upwards but some people do need to take the blue tinted specs off from time to time - there is no shame in admitting that the ref got it wrong and we got lucky.

[Suffolk Blue]

BH79 - I don't think very many of us who were there thought it was a penalty and we did indeed get lucky. The fact we are getting some luck is however something to celebrate. I hope we continue to get it. We all need it sometimes.

The issue of Bennetts behaviour is an interesting one. He does go to ground very easily. And I have already made comments before about cheating and how it should be eradicated. However let me give you a couple of examples of what I've seen this season. At Tranmere James Norwood broke clear of the BAFC defence ran at Dixon and rather than round him and score - which he was absolutely capable of - contrived to connect with him (Tranmere supporters themselves actually stated there was no physical contact at all) and then fling himself to the ground - Result a Penalty. At Woking the striker Ugwu slipped past Moussa Diarra who made a desperate move to prevent the striker by raising his foot towards the ball and connecting (a glancing blow) to the players midriff. As he went past Ugwu clutched at his face and collapsed as if struck in the head. Result - a Penalty. Video shows both of these events to involve cheating or simulation. Neither player was subject to any sanction. The Hull striker Snodgrass contrived to get a penalty for Hull recently by blatant diving and without any sanction. The referee on the other hand was flayed alive in the media. Its always been my view that any player caught cheating should be retrospectively red carded.

Where however, there is some contact with a player or conceivably a player seeks contact with another then this is possibly even more contentious. But this stems from a view that is now widely accepted at all levels of the game that as long as a defender actually touches you, then you are quite entitled to go down and that a penalty should in most cases be automatic. Michael Owen made a career out of doing this (most famously against Argentina in S Korea) and nobody batted an eyelid. I've sat watching MOTD where punter after punter has stood up for this principle (especially the strikers union) and I know of not a single Premier League Manager that has ever taken action against his own players for doing it. Which will be because as we know they never see it.

Personally I'm old school. It happens during every game with the ref left to try an interpret what he sees. It is wrong and in truth depressing. However with the rules as they stand the only thing you can really criticise Bennett for is not doing it more realistically (in fact you cannot criticise because what was the result - a Penalty!). Interesting to note that the major criticism coming from the press after the Bwood game related to the referee and not our player. If this had been a Premiership game we'd have had endless replays trying to determine whether there had been the slightest contact and if there had, then so be it, and the fact that the striker had fallen as if mortally wounded clutching whatever body parts that came to hand, would've been ignored.

[K-Man]

Bennett goes down to easy. If they were against us I would be furious.

[K_BFC]

Williams has already served a suspension for 5 yellows, so he should miss both Gateshead home and away.

He will only miss one game.
His first suspension was for 5 yellow cards.
You only get extra match suspensions for red card offences.

Your right it is just the one game. Reds and yellows do appear to be treated separately, but just as additional red cards add extra match bans, so do every 5 yellow cards. He got a game suspension for 5 yellows earlier so if he gets to 10 he'll get a 2 match ban next time.