Selley! Selley! Selley!

Crawley Town 2-2 Woking: 02 January 2006
by Mick

The Refereeing Hall of Fame. Entries so far include the wonderful Mr Dorr, who you may remember causing a stir as he sent Canham and Richards off in the 2-1 home defeat against Aldershot, Mr Desmond (you may remember him for overruling his linesman at Kingfield to give us a 2-2 draw against the Shots) and Mr Ward, who sent a Halifax player off for diving and gave us a last minute penalty. There's plenty more I'm sure, the referees at this level are awful at times and today Mr John Hopkins provided a scintillating display of complete ineptitude and general uselessness.

After just four minutes after Paul Watson had chopped down Steve Burton he produced the yellow card, to err Ian Selley. After much protest he talked to his fourth official and then went to book Watson instead, good job too as Selley was booked later on (though that meant he had shown him the yellow card twice and I wouldn't have put it past him to show a red after that). Straight after that he made Crawley take a quick free kick again even though everyone was ready. His dismal display continued as he gave blowing up for dubious free kicks, not playing advantage and showing cards wildly and the decisions seemed to favour the home side for the most part (though, I suppose, I would say that).

To be fair, Crawley really didn't need the helping hand, they were more than capable of doing it themselves - Darryl Clare and Tony Scully being the main threats. Watson couldn't deal with Scully down the right and he was constantly allowed to get away and put the ball in the box and Clare was a danger all afternoon, especially on Nethercott who found him hard to deal with where as Jimmy seemed to out muscle him for the most part.

Up front without the injured McAllister (adding to the list of Smith, Sharpling, El-Salahi, Liam and MacDonald), Rawle was deemed just about fit enough to start and Blackman just about fit enough to be on the bench. Glenn himself was also missing as he had a virus, not the best way to start 2006 but the normally reliable defence were just about on form in the first half. Shwan had to make one reaction save off a Clare shot from a corner after it had been flicked on all to easily at the near post (although it really did hit him more than anything) and a countless number of free kicks were dealt with fairly well as the whistle happy Hopkins spoilt the game.

Clare had another opportunity too after Scully had got down the right for the umpteenth time, he picked up on a knock down and with his back to goal just about managed to turn enough to get a shot away as Nethercott held firm but it went straight into Shwan's arms. That was the best that Crawley offered really although the possession and pressure they had deserved more. If anyone deserved to go in 1-0 up at half time it was them but against the run of play and rather cruelly it was Justin who created a goal out of nothing to put Woking into the lead. He twisted and turned on the edge of the area before curling a stunning shot in off the post from around 20 yards.

In the second half things were a bit livelier from a Cards perspective as they had the better of the first fifteen minutes of the half looking confident and attacking well. However, they only had two real attempts and neither really worried Smith in the Crawley goal as he easily caught Rawle's tame, low left footed effort and watched comfortably as Ferguson's drive went past the near post.

Then a foul by Jimmy on Clare gave Crawley another free kick outside the box (it was probably about right but Clare was doing his best to back in) and from that the ball was driven into the wall and before anyone knew what was going on the referee was pointing to the spot. Apparently, the ball had been handled in the wall, not really clear from my position it seemed a very harsh decision but if hands were raised then that really is just stupid. Fair play to Clare, he took his chance from the spot with aplomb drilling it into the right corner and even though Shwan guessed correctly he was nowhere near it.

Woking were left shocked by the goal and five minutes later they seemed asleep when Neil Jenkins provided a lovely sweeping cross that strikers like Clare thrive on and he made no mistake diving in to place the ball into the far corner and beyond Jalal to make it 2-1 and suddenly in a matter of five minutes the game had turned. Crossley changed things, he brought off the tired and worn out Rawle who had fought well and brought on Blackman. He put Blackman out wide on the right and moved Ferguson inside and it worked perfectly. Moments before Tom Hutchinson had to come on to play his first game as a Card replacing an injured Nethercott.

On 79 minutes, Lloyd got up brilliantly to win a header and flicked it on to Ferguson who turned and was confronted by about four Crawley players trying to get the ball off him. He looked to be muscled out of it more than anything but the referee continued his inconsistency and gave a free kick. The old 'move it to the right a bit before letting someone hit it' routine worked wonders as did Selley's right foot, curling the ball with power into the top corner to make it 2-2, an absolutely top class effort and well deserved it was too.

Crawley pushed on and it made for a terrific last ten minutes as they came forward and Woking attacked on the break with Ferguson, he almost latched onto a Blackman header and then right at the end he came flying down the left and turned the last defender but with the goal gaping and the keeper' helpless he curled the ball wide of the far post and let the home side off.

It was a fairly decent game and although some of the play was hardly top notch, it was entertaining and both sides deserved to take something from the affair. The awful referee didn't really help matters, he really was diabolical throughout but the result was about right in the end. It goes to show two things really, that we play much better football on the break in terms of scoring goals and unless we hit another good run a la last season or earlier in this, then we'll be nowhere near the playoffs. Stranger things have happened though.

Woking (4-4-2): Jalal; Watson, Aggrey, Nethercott (Hutchinson 67), Jackson; Evans, Murray, Selley, Ferguson; Rawle (Blackman 73), Richards. Subs not used: Davies, Ruby, S Cockerill

Man of the match: Jimmy Aggrey

Attendance: 2,073

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