Watto’s Report: Vile 1-0 Blues – Robbed by the referee

I try very hard not to use words like robbed and deserved or luck when describing my view of football matches. So therefore the fact that Villa won this game with a penalty given by a known incompetent referee will not change that policy. Only the Mad Mick in the home dug out thought the ref was right which puts his opinions of other recent incidents involving his team in perspective. The corner at Crystal Palace and the reduction of Blackburn to ten men with a penalty, when 2-0 down, certainly helped their Wembley causes did they not?

When Gabby Agbonlahor burst into Blues penalty area for the first time in over an hour not even his pace could get him away from Roger Johnson who clearly played the ball and it went behind for a corner. Gabby did what he does best and fell over. The ref, 40 yards away could not deal with the incident and as Johnson had given him an earful early in the game the ref took his revenge on Johnson by pointing to the spot. That is how these inadequate refs react. Mr Atkinson was well aware of his error as he did not brandish a card of any sort until the apoplexic Johnson had harangued the linesman and the ref and anyone else within earshot.

Blues had out played their hosts for long periods and in spite of conceding free kicks at the rate of almost 2 to 1 also had as much possession. Villa started well and tested England’s no 1 with a couple of long range efforts. Firstly Agbonlahor caused Hart to dive down to his right. Milner struck a fierce drive which really tested Hart and after yet another free kick the ball fell to Collins whose half volley was tipped over.

Nothing else was seen of the Villa attack until Heskey came on and forced Hart to come out and thwart him in the 80th minute. Between those incidents the much vaunted Villa attack of Carew, Agbonlahor, and Young were in the pockets of the Blues back four. Ridgewell back at centre half in place of the injured Scott Dann was outstanding with Vignal doing an excellent job at left back.

Blues first half chances were few but Gardener forced Friedel into a good save and from the resulting corner the ball fell to Johnson whose shot failed to pierce the crowd scene in the Villa goal mouth.

Villa have the excellent Brad Friedel to thank for keeping his side in the game. Should he and Joe Hart not be facing each other across the high Veldt in June?  The yank denied Gardener, Jerome and Larsson and when Mcfadden(twice) and Ridgewell from a header got the ball past him then a maroon shirt was able to clear from the goal line.

With Blues looking the most likely winners and the clock on 84 minutes Mr Atkinson decided the game. Milner took the pen and blasted it past Hart in front of the now demented Holte Enders. Milner enjoyed a good day having been given a master class in mid field play by Barry Ferguson, scored the winner and somehow was awarded Man of the Match. When this fixture rolls round next season James will be in the Sky studio summarising as a Manchester United player.

For Blues fans, in spite of a good season which saw us get back to the position we were in 5 years ago, this has took the gilt off the gingerbread somewhat. The season end cannot come quick enough and we will look forward to Carson Yeung spending some of that 40 million he promised. What this game showed is that Blues can reach the top seven or eight positions with prudent spending. Equally our record since the Chelsea defeat is as bad as the relegated three. The true measure of how good or big a club you are is when you stop getting shafted by decisions like today! 

JVB; 1 Friedel, 5 Dunne, 24 Cuellar, 6 Warnock, 29 Collins, 06 Downing, 7 A Young, 8 Milner, 19 Petrov,10 Carew (Heskey 70), 11 Agbonlahor

Substitutes,22 Guzan, 2 L Young, 23 Beye, 4 Sidwell, 20 Reo-Coker,14 Delfouneso,18 Heskey

Blues; 25 Hart, 2 Carr, 6 Ridgewell,14 Johnson, 27 Gregory Vignal (Parnaby 75), 4 Bowyer,7 Larsson (Fahey 75) 12 Ferguson 33 Gardner (Phillips 85) 10 Jerome,16 McFadden

Substitutes; 1 Taylor, 21 Parnaby,17 Marcos Madera,18 Fahey, 28 Tainio,9 Phillips,11 Benitez

Ref: Atkinson (Shocking display, he has replaced Rob Styles. Not only does he make many mistakes he thinks he has got things right) 

Att: 42,788

By Alan Watton

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