brightspark

Pretty dull first half for the neutral, you can see why Brighton have drawn 0-0 away from home in the past (Birmingham - heard that game was dire). Going to take a lot of effort to break them down. Could have had 2 penalties, the one on Lambert looked more likely. Brighton have nothing.

I wouldn't stress, I've actually met the bloke at the end of the season we beat Leeds and one of the many questions I asked him was about 'how he felt about being known as the worst referee Southampton have had for 20 years' or something along those lines. He replied with something like: "you know what home fans are like", but interestingly couldn't even remember if he had refereed us that season, and once pushed to remember refereeing a game at SMS, couldn't remember who we had played. He thought we had lost as well. So even if he had any bad feelings towards us, he's probably forgotten them already!!!

Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

Laughing hysterically!!! :)

You beauty great stuff Chappers

I will be in the UK at the time but for those in Australia worried about the potential no-showing of the Skates match should rest easy. Fox Sports have the rights and show games that are live on Sky and BBC, and even if there is a Premier League match on the same time, you should be able to watch the game at least on the red button.

Oh well I'm clearly not with the times

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12942,00.html Not sure I've seen any news on this, but according to this link our home match with Leicester on January 21 has been moved to Monday January 23 for Tee Vee. I'll give it 4 posts before someone bemoans how we always lose when live on Sky

Great for Ward-Prowse, looking forward to seeing what he can become. I'm quietly confident he can become a gem for us. Any word also on Jake Sinclair - it wasn't so long ago he was mentioned in the same breath as Ward-Prowse... or is he still a year away?

Yaaaaay got it working

Lost my stream (crying)

We're playing really well but Derby doing a fine job off the ball in closing us down. We obviously miss Lallana. I don't get many opportunities to watch Saints but on this occasion I have to admit that Chaplow frustrates me, he doesn't seem to have a reliable first touch...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/15201322.stm Anyone care to explain what the difference between Pompey and Plymouth is? Am I right to think that the Football League are blocking Plymouth's attempts to sign a 19th and 20th player to their squads when Pompey were allowed to do so? Both were/are in administration, both were/are insolvent (technically), and both were governed by the Football League...

Hilarious, all those Forest fans who wanted Billy Davies out must feel like morons now!!!

Walk some of the South West Coast Path. Go to Dartmoor. Both are free.

It's like watching the rugby... penalty here, penalty there..... we should do what Arsenal did that once and go for the goal from open play!!!

Think that is the first time we haven't scored in the first half this season!!! Time for Cortese to release the hounds.

Classic!!! We're playing bURNley ha ha

Seems very similar to that 4-3 victory we had over them about 4 years ago...... I'd take that now :/

"it's Brazilian Guly do Prado who smashes home from close range" is all the BBC Updates say

Clotterrill is a complete tit in that interview, tediously predictable responses... particularly the red card. I'm looking forward to seeing that one in the highlights - no doubt Varney received "a little nudge before" and that he "just clipped him". Funny how no players rush to the ref in protest but poor Steve can't see sense, and has a brain the size of his hairy, chavvy belly button.

whistling impatiently...

The '6 second rule' certainly still applies but for some reason I've never seen any referee in any professional league in the UK blow up for it. Having said that, I've never actually caught a goalkeeper with that one - but in Australia they are wise to this and all tend to kick/release the ball quick enough anyway. As for the handball - assistant referees need to be spotting this. Remember the whole of the ball has to cross the whole of the line for it to be handball, and sometimes the momentum of the keeper looks like he is well outside of his area during a drop kick when in fact he may have released it well inside the penalty area. I really doubt goalkeepers would be so dim to risk it....

Hard to answer this one. I won't exactly give you a straight answer, because it is pretty much accepted worldwide that the goalkeeper gets protected (whether you agree with that or not is up to you). I will leave you with a few of points to ponder however: 1. The goalkeeper is, and I know this sounds a bit funny, 'special'. He is exempt from several laws of the game (e.g equipment), which makes him different from the other 10 players. 2. A goalkeeper has reason to be raising his arms. An outfield player has no reason to do so. This makes it easier for an outfield player to commit a foul against a goalkeeper than visa versa. 3. See Question 1 from the original post.... attacking players will often be penalised - especially during set pieces, for impeding the goal keeper (obstructing him) as he tries to claim a catch/punch. standing in his way can simply be a foul if IN THE OPINION OF THE REFEREE he is standing there deliberately to gain an unfair advantage. Yes, that is the correct ruling. FIFA do have some strange stuff in the laws of the game. For example, if you take a corner, and then you touch the ball again before any other player has touched it in your own penalty area, then an indirect free kick will be awarded against you. Yep, that's actually written somewhere in the laws of the game.

Hi mate, I'm an active 19yo referee in Australia, coming through the ranks (just so you know I'm genuine). 1. Yes..... well it's called 'impeding the progress of an opponent' according to the FIFA laws of the game. This means moving into the path of an opponent to obstruct, block, slow down or force a change of direction when the ball is not within playing distance of either player. The last time I blew up for this, and awarded an indirect free kick for it, was about a month ago. 2. No... but I agree, at the top level you rarely see no added time any more. 3. Kaboul's goal for Spurs last night shouldn't have stood IMO. Remember, interefering with an opponent (which IS offside) is always in the opinion of the referee, so Dowd obviously decided that he didn't interfere. This, of course, may lead to inconsistancy. Life sucks...