Today's referee

[Jerry St Clair]

Carl Brook. Relatively new to the EFL, going on the list in 2021. No games yet for us this season. Previous Cheltenham assignments since 2021:

Salford at home in the Pizza Cup - 3-1 win
Shrewsbury at home - 2-0 win
Barnsley away - 1-0 loss
Oxford away - 1-1

He's booked Sercs, Bradbury and Long twice each in those. No red cards.

The fourth official is Adam Ricketts (possibly not the 90s Coronation Street heartthrob, but you never know).

[Shade]

Let's hope for a rare decent performance from the officials. Probably had less from them than from our own team, which is saying something.

[Shade]

Up and down at best. And the end of the match was a bit of a farce.

[Jerry St Clair]

I actually thought the ref was ok. Not great but didn’t make any absolute howlers.

[Broadway Brian]

An odd ref. Seems to want to cover as few yards as possible and just trot around the middle part of the pitch meaning he always seemed to be far away from play.

So, garbage first half.

But then he seemed to kop on a bit second half and show some strong refereeing at times.

But lost the plot right at the end.

We’ve had way worse.

[Jerry St Clair]

I'm not sure what he did wrong at the end. He just blew the final whistle, didn't he? Did something else happen?

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

I'm not sure what he did wrong at the end. He just blew the final whistle, didn't he? Did something else happen?

Back pass which the keeper picked up. He chose to blow the final whistle rather than make a decision about awarding us the indirect free kick.

[Fuller]

I'm not sure what he did wrong at the end. He just blew the final whistle, didn't he? Did something else happen?

Back pass which the keeper picked up. He chose to blow the final whistle rather than make a decision about awarding us the indirect free kick.

I thought their player used his knee to pass the ball to the keeper. Which I found out today is permissible. Only if the foot is used is it an infringement.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

I'm not sure what he did wrong at the end. He just blew the final whistle, didn't he? Did something else happen?

Back pass which the keeper picked up. He chose to blow the final whistle rather than make a decision about awarding us the indirect free kick.

I thought their player used his knee to pass the ball to the keeper. Which I found out today is permissible. Only if the foot is used is it an infringement.

Yes, I wasn’t sure if knee or foot. And I don’t think the ref was sure either - which is why I think blew the whistle so as not to have to make a decision either way.

[Jerry St Clair]

I'm not sure what he did wrong at the end. He just blew the final whistle, didn't he? Did something else happen?

Back pass which the keeper picked up. He chose to blow the final whistle rather than make a decision about awarding us the indirect free kick.

But it was passed to the keeper off the thigh therefore not an infringement.

Only deliberate passes using the foot are backpasses under the law.

Tricks or manufactured passes (such as flicking it up and heading it back) would also be a foul. But that pass clearly wasn’t in that category.

[Jerry St Clair]

And I don’t think the ref was sure either - which is why I think blew the whistle so as not to have to make a decision either way.

Quite, which is why I shouted for it too. The guy next to me also knew the law and told me so, to which I responded “it’s the 95th minute, the ref is unsighted so why not try it on?!”. TBH the Lino had a perfect view so I don’t think it would have been given.

[Si Robin]

Someone at that end told me he gave the free-kick initially, realised he got it wrong so blew the final whistle.

As others said, he had an up and down game. I thought both pens were soft, but I can see why he gave them.

[horlickfanclub]

The ref allowed 5 -10 yards to be stolen on throw ins. In the second half he suddenly got interested when the offence was just by the fourth official. He was useless.

[Shade]

As far as I was concerned, he didn't initially blow for full time. If he did, he didn't do it clearly at all as none of the players seemed to know any better than us fans. He seemed to blow once, wait a good 4 or 5 seconds while communicating with the lino who no doubt told him it came off the Wigan players knee, and then decided that'll be full time, then. His body position was bizarre for a ref that had just ended the game and I'm still not sure he actually blew the whistle three times. He just seemed to tell the several players who were complaining one way or the other that the game was over. Their keeper was 10 yards or so away and smashed the ball high and onto the roof of the CF Stand, and it seemed because he was frustrated that the free kick had been given, but it could have been because they were hanging on for a draw at Cheltenham, I suppose. And then the handshakes started and the crowd began to realise the game was over.

I'm not sure exactly how long had been played, but I looked at the big screen at 92:45 and it certainly didn't seem like over 2 more minutes had elapsed after that.

[Nham68]

As far as I was concerned, he didn't initially blow for full time. If he did, he didn't do it clearly at all as none of the players seemed to know any better than us fans. He seemed to blow once, wait a good 4 or 5 seconds while communicating with the lino who no doubt told him it came off the Wigan players knee, and then decided that'll be full time, then. His body position was bizarre for a ref that had just ended the game and I'm still not sure he actually blew the whistle three times. He just seemed to tell the several players who were complaining one way or the other that the game was over. Their keeper was 10 yards or so away and smashed the ball high and onto the roof of the CF Stand, and it seemed because he was frustrated that the free kick had been given, but it could have been because they were hanging on for a draw at Cheltenham, I suppose. And then the handshakes started and the crowd began to realise the game was over.

I'm not sure exactly how long had been played, but I looked at the big screen at 92:45 and it certainly didn't seem like over 2 more minutes had elapsed after that.

It was bang on the 5 mins , just a few seconds off . And it came of his knee / thigh .. Thought the ref did Ok. The big calls, he got spot on . Issuance of cards was consistent across both sides .
Bit frustrated that we didn’t take chances given we had most the momentum.
That said, we got away with one given the penalty was such a shocker .