HEARTBREAK LOSS

REFEREE PLAYS 13TH MAN FOR OPPONENTS

Hapless Spartans get the one of the left!

"We had some difficulties," said Coach Baron," and the League will review the Referee's absolutely dreadful performance on the pitch today."

Fans pelted the Referee with beer cups (sans contents) and hotdog cartons after he botched call after call.
"He's paid off," came the chorus from the rowdy Spartan fans.

TSN's Gerry Dobson and Craig Forrest agreed in a post review of the match.
"The League needs to stamp down these destroyers of the beautiful game! He called no offsides, couldn't call obvious illegal tackles, and wouldn't discipline the proper players."

The game started poorly for the Spartans, who decided to play as if they had been off for a seasonal break. This led to an offside goal directed by an offside player.

"Where's the call on that?" were the incredulous calls from the Stands.

Then the Spartan team we know and love came out from the wood work. Two good goals didn't tell the overall picture. After the first half it should have been double. Our local heroes were poised to win their second game!

But the team decided to take a break. Throttling on half, the Gunners made play after play against Mark, who's netminding skills were tested in his first game back in goal since 2010. A break down in defense made it 2 - 2.

From there, it was all Referee.

Each time the Spartans got their engines rev'd, the Referee quickly created some call to force them off balance.

"I had the ball," related Carmen," and the Gunner guy falls over his own feet. Penalty for them."

"The Gunner goalie catches the ball outside the 18, everyone's looking for a call and they're laughing. Referee allows the play to continue?" questioned Paul.

The last straw was a text book offside. Instead of calling it, the Referee allowed play to continue, and then allowed another pass to a Gunner striker that was alone infront of the net. With all Spartans behind him, the Gunner forward made it 3 - 2.

The Spartans also received bad news when Ian and Tyler both went down, and Kyle limped off field. Without proper subs, Coach Baron decided to hit the field, but was quickly wrestled away from his gear by field doctors.

Not having the depth, the Spartans felt off balance and didn't make much of the last 20 minutes.

"Overall, we didn't play as a team," judged Coach Baron," but the Referee cost us this game. We weren't beaten by a soccer team. We were beaten by terrible officiating!"

STATS:
Matt (A)
Dismo (G)
Dismo (A)
Paul (G)

NET:
Mark (0-0-1) AVG: 3.00

Man of the Match:
Dismo