That goal

After looking at the clip several times my thoughts are,

Why did Clarke kick the ball at all, he should have left it to Macca to take from that spot,

Their player was not 10 yards away so you would think the ref would had asked us to retake the kick.

Was the ref making up for the blatent penalty he didn't give Coventry 10 mins earlier  

Quoted from grimsby pete

After looking at the clip several times my thoughts are,

Why did Clarke kick the ball at all, he should have left it to Macca to take from that spot,

Their player was not 10 yards away so you would think the ref would had asked us to retake the kick.

Exactly what we said whilst at the match, coupled with why the f... Does Macca insist on coming out & taking free kicks 30 yards out from goal?

Plain & simple Clarke's error and only possible reason for disallowing the goal is the ten yard rule which I admit at the game passed me by at the time. Without that error could have got 0-0 for a hard fought and maybe undeserved point but lets hope for better entertainment in next 22 home matches!!!!!!!

Quoted from pizzzza

If the striker wasn't 10 yards away then why did he take it so quickly? Clarke misjudged the weight of the pass plain and simple. I have never seen a ref stop play for a player not being 10 yards away after a free kick is taken.

You see it all the time when a player blocks a free kick being taken, that is the exact same rule. Personally I'd say it was quite obvious that Town didn't think they'd restarted play because Clarke must have noticed the man being there and it's such a nonchalant flick I'd be astonished if he'd passed the ball like that whilst intending to restart play.

What irked me was I don't think the ref was actually watching the incident which is why there was such confusion. His actions and his body language showed he didn't know what was going on and if you're unsure of what has happened and not actually watching the game, how on earth can you give a goal or claim that the ball was in play?

Quoted from mariner91

You see it all the time when a player blocks a free kick being taken, that is the exact same rule. Personally I'd say it was quite obvious that Town didn't think they'd restarted play because Clarke must have noticed the man being there and it's such a nonchalant flick I'd be astonished if he'd passed the ball like that whilst intending to restart play.

What irked me was I don't think the ref was actually watching the incident which is why there was such confusion. His actions and his body language showed he didn't know what was going on and if you're unsure of what has happened and not actually watching the game, how on earth can you give a goal or claim that the ball was in play?

I've paused the highlights and the referee is nowhere in sight when Clarke pushes the ball towards McKeown. He was probably pushing up the pitch towards the Pontoon end and my guess is he didn't even see the 'free kick' being taken

It's a goal in my opinion.

Clarke in my opinion was taking the free kick and where Clarke was standing was where the foul was comitted, you wouldn't then pass it back to the keeper to take 10 yards back would you? Clarke didn't expect their striker to react that quickly, very few players would so Clarke at the time thought the pass without properly looking was alright, just a stupid mistake but a legitimate goal in my opinion.

If Clarke had placed the ball and passed it quickly two yards right to Davies (as an example) no-one would be arsed that the striker is not ten yards away. He's placed the ball and then passed with the strength of a one legged mouse back to McKeown so the only person at fault is Clarke. Take away all emotional attachment to it because as I said before if we'd have scored it we'd be praising the striker. We move on to next week.

Quoted from LH

If Clarke had placed the ball and passed it quickly two yards right to Davies (as an example) no-one would be arsed that the striker is not ten yards away. He's placed the ball and then passed with the strength of a one legged mouse back to McKeown so the only person at fault is Clarke. Take away all emotional attachment to it because as I said before if we'd have scored it we'd be praising the striker. We move on to next week.

Irrelevant. The fact is that the striker is nowhere near ten yards away and gained an advantage (a pretty fucking big advantage given the state of the game) from being there. That's against the rules and shouldn't count.

The problem is, the player within 10 yards actually moves to block Clarke playing the long ball. So it's not as though he's just fortunately there, he's there technically breaking the rules.

Absolute shocker from Clarke. Can't believe anyone is disputing whether it should have stood.