Incompetent: Lacking qualities necessary for effective conduct or action.
Nincompoop: A person lacking common sense, a person who lacks good sense or judgment.
Mr Craig Pawson: Appointed official (see above for further descriptive help).
Derby versus Reading, Fifth Round of the FA Cup, we throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Stephen Warnock, a footballing dinosaur… a dozy footballing dinosaur.
Shortly after upending one of the Royals and earning a yellow card he follows through midway in the opposition half, another yellow and he's off.
Rightly so.
Trains leave for Leeds every hour or so.
A quick dismissal which at least allowed Jamie Mackie to stop the clasping of his leg as if it had already been severed and revert to running around like a spring chicken. Mackie's slapping of a team mates hand after Warnock had departed said it all.
All the good work against Bournemouth was wasted, team changes galore, down to ten men we concede Hal Robson-Kanu given way too much space by Ryan Shotton, Kelle Roos in goal, no chance.
Against the run of play we equalise, Jesse Lenard’s shot, and Darren Bent gets a touch and steers the ball past Adam Federici.
We believe we can win, we press, we lose the ball, Shotton loses Yakubu who finishes with a cracker to win the game 2-1 for Reading.
Afterward Steve McClaren, defended his players, defended his team selection and said "You can't win matches when you're down to 10 men for fifty minutes". Clearly he's forgotten exactly what we did against Forest.
Our Manager also said he didn't want a draw, he said he went for it. The big question though was why didn't he bring the one player likely to unlock the Reading defence and play the sort of ball needed to unleash Bent and Lingard into the play.
Why Stevie Baby didn't you bring on Will Hughes? We could have won this match, we didn't, that dear chap is down to you.
Overall a disappointing afternoon, the game was there for the taking, perhaps with seven changes it shows how weak our overall squad is, a few injuries and the fringe players aren't good enough, even for Championship level.
Players I.Saw:
Roos 6 - Not helped by his defenders but didn't really command his area.
Christie 7 - One minute struggling with an injury, the next bombing down the wing, gave his all, you can't ask for more.
Keogh 7 - Survived a handball penalty appeal and tried to push the team forward with his surging runs, his distribution though was erratic.
Shotton 5 - Frequently out of position, never close enough to his man, we needed Buxton against the physicality of Reading, he needs to gets nasty.
Warnock 4 - Cough. Nasty he was… but he needs to get a brain, red mist, a dodo of an experienced pro, who's got the metaphorical bullet? Even before the sending off he played liked a geriatric dinosaur, no pace and even made Lee Naylor look good. He once played for England I'm told, then again so did Nick Pickering. Ticket for Leeds anyone!?
Hendrick 6 - Ran around, got in the oppositions way, enough said.
Mascarell 5 - First into the referees book for grabbing and holding, given Warnock had been sent off his substitution to allow Forsyth on was a logical choice. Grabbing and holding was a first half booking until after half time then it became a free for all especially in the penalty area, Jake Buxton would have had a field day. Mascarell's booking in the first few minutes also signalled the end of any degree of common sense from the officials.
Bryson 6 - Ran around got in the oppositions way, a bit more positive than Hendrick but not a lot.
Lingard 8 - Rat the opposition all afternoon, created our best chances and the goal which flicked off Bent, real pace and skill an excellent debut.
Bent 7 - Hall the service you'd normally associate with a computer helpline, if only we could switch off reboot and start again.
Dawkins 6 - Promises so much isn't quite delivering at the moment.
Subs:
Forsyth 7 - Brought the fluidity of oil to Warnock's treacle. Should have started.
Ward 6 - Typical Ward, he scores you love him, he doesn't you think "well he didn't really create much".
Thomas 6 - A young lad who tried very hard but like Bent, he had no clear chances and little service.
Ref:
Mr Pawson 3 - An awful game. Intimidated by the whinging as he was surrounded by the Reading players? I don't think so. Determined not to be seen as a home? A possibility. Control over the game? Virtually none. Inconsistent to the very end, a poor, poor Premiership referee, Google him if you wish for more accurate descriptors of his abilities.