R12 vs Adelaide | Sat 26th Dec | 7:15pm | SS3

Well that was fun.

Also Adelaide lucky that Beath somehow spotted a foul when Gakeckovic dropped the ball and we put it into the net.

*sigh* the last time I could possibly see Wellington live and we dish that up..
Riera's first yellow was... ugh. The second was fair enough but once the red came out I knew it was over.

This license bullshark is killing all of us. Sort it out, FFA. How do they expect us to play with this uncertainty every week?

I ended up getting a free ticket from some kind guy while I was lining up so I guess the match was worth the money I paid..

Also got a handshake from Ridenton, good man.

Not as bad as it sounds methinks,an OG a Moss Blunder and some shocking calls from the ref.I fear what could happen to Roly as he gets no protection from the refs at all and just how most get away with fouling him without a card is just shark.Could have been different if we had taken our chances and had Wee Mac been on the field pretty sure he spent most of it hiding from possession something he seems to do far to often.

As for the licence just wish  they would get it over and done with one way or the other then everyone will be aware of where they stand.

Geezbus wept, it gives me no pleasure to be right in this case. Anyone else joining me in giving up on the season and just hoping there'll be another one?

Manchester United thread is elsewhere but I can feel your vibe mate. 

I still think we need a mental skills coach - someone like Gilbert Enoka to assist Ernie with with the players mind sets. 

haven't said it before for the sake of it being seen as sour grapes. Will say it now though - the Phoenix have been screwed by match officials pretty much snce day one. Beyond that, the standard of refereeing in the A league is shocking. These guys need to watch EPL officials. Not focussing on Riera in particular but some of the red cards dished out in the A league are just totally ridiculous.

after generally feeling unhappy at the referee's performance in the game yesterday, i am a little more circumspect today.

I think while both yellows were on the soft side i don't think they were massive referee errors - i think the single biggest mistake in the game was the missed foul on Roly on the edge of the box. 

All the penalty claims had a little bit of merit but i don't think any of the (i think it was three) were more than 50/50 claims.

My view on the referee is that while he was generally pretty decent on the big calls, there was a bunch of little things he just missed consistently that bugged me.

Do agree a litlle chopah however the thing is its actually the little things that really piss me off. Getting thoroughly hacked off with Roly being continually fouled and cards not being given.Yet when he does something they flash one at him, Really hate playing the them against us card but to often it goes against us when it shouldnt for it to be just mistakes.

Are you serious or taking the piss?

Yep, for me that was the turning point of the whole game. We'd dominated, scored, but no...

Not me, as if.

Hope this is just just a mid season blues and we get better results from now on. Last year around everything looks fine at this point and then it all went bad. We are just two points behind Victory, I would have taken that at the start of the season as good result ;-)

Next game Thursday eh...

Same day as the next win!

On the pen shouts, I think they are 50/50 but you expect one of those to go against you based on balance of probability so perhaps there is an element of unlucky about it. Consistency is not a word you would associate with Beath and I think about the Sydney game where we were kicked off the park and he did nothing and here is another game it does not go out way. I'm not crying conspiracy but when have we ever been satisfied with this guy recently.