Marks out of 10 1/10 because he turned up, but I'll have to take one off for turning so that is 0/10.
For those that say Town didn't play well, I think it was the stop and start. Their players going down, feigning injury, holding their heads. From the first minute Bishop was in the refs face.
Marsden reffed us 3 times last year. Home Carlisle and MK Dons, away at Cheltenham. Second year in EFL2. Around yellow cards a game and 1 red every 3rd game.
Really the worst Ref I've seen in 55 yrs.

Yes the ref was bad i would give him 2 out of 10 he got the red card correct.

But when they went down to 10 men they where the team pushing for a win and to be honest we never looked like scoring.

We where shocking all second half.!

Think he had to give the red card due to the players reactions, Ogbu especially so he reluctantly gave it. He did however ruin the game before and after that. Judging EVERY challenge as a foul againdt both sides hence making it a stop start game, allowing their players to throw themselves on the floor faking injury, time wasting from them at every opportunity without cautioning, there goalkeeper especially and making some horrendous mistakes like giving them a drop  ball when it was clearly our corner. Also there players were squaring up to our fans which went unpunished.

Overall I think Marsden was the worst ref i have ever seen at Blundell Park

He didn't give any fouls when it was ogbu going down. I remember akheem rose was it being tackled really badly, definite yellow, but he just gave the foul.

Obviously all pales into insignificance with his criminally bad handling of the corner/head injry/drop ball incident, and their player coming on to tackle Hess.

Probably not the reason we lost yesterday. But almost certainly the worst refereeing performance I have ever seen.

Quoted from Stew0_0

Think he had to give the red card due to the players reactions, Ogbu especially so he reluctantly gave it. He did however ruin the game before and after that. Judging EVERY challenge as a foul againdt both sides hence making it a stop start game, allowing their players to throw themselves on the floor faking injury, time wasting from them at every opportunity without cautioning, there goalkeeper especially and making some horrendous mistakes like giving them a drop  ball when it was clearly our corner. Also there players were squaring up to our fans which went unpunished.

Overall I think Marsden was the worst ref i have ever seen at Blundell Park

do think you must mean in league 2 because that was the average standard of refereeing in none league. Aswad Thomas being booked for being sat on was a personal highlight

Mr Marsden is a really good illustration of where the refereeing pyramid is at the moment, enthusiastic amateurs making decisions on the professional game and in some extreme cases professionals careers.

Until kn0b heads stop abusing young kids setting out as officials and experienced park refs who could progress we’ll always end up with merry whistle blowers who are way out of their depth.

Unless the grass roots game finds a way to protect refs then people just won’t sign up for the job.

Brace yourself ladies & gents it might get a whole what worse.

Quoted from WHYWONTYOULETMESIGNUP

do think you must mean in league 2 because that was the average standard of refereeing in none league. Aswad Thomas being booked for being sat on was a personal highlight

What about Pat Hoban being booked for falling over.

Quoted from toontown

He didn't give any fouls when it was ogbu going down. I remember akheem rose was it being tackled really badly, definite yellow, but he just gave the foul.

Obviously all pales into insignificance with his criminally bad handling of the corner/head injury/drop ball incident, and their player coming on to tackle Hess.

Probably not the reason we lost yesterday. But almost certainly the worst refereeing performance I have ever seen.

That was never a head injury

As soon as the ref stopped play their physio came on and gave that player a drink - he was sitting up, unaided, swigging away and just taking a breather

The ref must have seen that and should have realised he'd been conned - deserved a yellow for feigning injury. They book players for diving so why not for simulating an injury as well?

It was similar in the Crewe game too where they had a player rolling around as if he'd been shot so the ref stopped the game. It was a leg injury FFS and whatever their physio did worked wonders because he was the one who skipped away at the death to score and then carried on running to their fans to celebrate

Too many games are being ruined by blatant cheating and the officials are doing nothing to stamp it out

Quoted from Mariner Ronnie

What about Pat Hoban being booked for falling over.

This isnt one i saw personally, but remember JT going crazy on Humbs that Conor Townsend got booked for supposed timewasting when the ball was lost in an empty stand away somewhere NonLeague and there were no ball boys!

I wonder what our Fishy "Ref's assessor" Gobby made of Mr Marsdens's performance on Saturday?

Who'd be a referee? I wouldn't.

Don't get me wrong, I think Paul Marsden's performance was abysmal. But the lack of quality is probably down to a lack of people wanting to become a referee.

The EFL promoted this lad from non-league last season. He's clearly not good enough, yet he's into his second season as an EFL official. If there were more referees knocking about, and more to choose from, you'd be able to find better.

It's funny. When we finally got back into the league, one of the things we were looking forward to was the improved standard of refereeing.

Just so happens that a lot of those who were reffing in non-league have now been promoted too!!

Quoted from RichMariner

Who'd be a referee? I wouldn't.
Don't get me wrong, I think Paul Marsden's performance was abysmal. But the lack of quality is probably down to a lack of people wanting to become a referee.

I think in general football fans are overly critical in general of referees, and the abuse at all levels probably does put off a fair amount of people who may be interested. But sometimes one is so inept that we cannot help venting our feelings.

A part of me felt a bit for the ref on Saturday as you could visibly see that he knew he was making errors and had lost control of the game. The very last thing that ref needed was Mansfield who played him like a fiddle all afternoon.

They sensed he was a weak ref and used it. You just have to pray when you play teams like that that you get a strong ref. If you do not then the game becomes like it did.

Having said all that, in a bizarre sort of way it all adds to the spectacle. Probably saved the team from deserved criticism on the poor second half showing.

But it is swings and roundabouts. Does anyone else remember when we beat Yeovil 1-0 in 2005 and the ref had denied Jevvo a pen for Yeovil in the last minute. I was in the main stand that day and it remains the only time I have ever seen a referee given a standing ovation as he headed down the tunnel, the entire stand was on its feet!  ;D

Quoted from Malta_Mariner_90

I think in general football fans are overly critical in general of referees, and the abuse at all levels probably does put off a fair amount of people who may be interested. But sometimes one is so inept that we cannot help venting our feelings.

A part of me felt a bit for the ref on Saturday as you could visibly see that he knew he was making errors and had lost control of the game. The very last thing that ref needed was Mansfield who played him like a fiddle all afternoon.

They sensed he was a weak ref and used it. You just have to pray when you play teams like that that you get a strong ref. If you do not then the game becomes like it did.

Having said all that, in a bizarre sort of way it all adds to the spectacle. Probably saved the team from deserved criticism on the poor second half showing.

But it is swings and roundabouts. Does anyone else remember when we beat Yeovil 1-0 in 2005 and the ref had denied Jevvo a pen for Yeovil in the last minute. I was in the main stand that day and it remains the only time I have ever seen a referee given a standing ovation as he headed down the tunnel, the entire stand was on its feet!  ;D

I think we are making ourselves look rather pathetic with this massive attack on Saturday's referee.

Sure it sopunds like he he had a nightmare and made some huge mistakes and lost control of the game but we were beaten fair and square with a goal that owed nothing to the referee or anyone other than our poor play / mistake.

He was apparently quite right to rule out Hansons effort, he reduced them to 10 men, what more do we want FFS? The fault for Saturday's defeat likes firmly at the feet of Jolley and the players, we lost fair and square.

I note that the referee seems to get a bad press very often these days especially when we are looking for excuses

Quoted from Ipswin

I think we are making ourselves look rather pathetic with this massive attack on Saturday's referee.

Sure it sopunds like he he had a nightmare and made some huge mistakes and lost control of the game but we were beaten fair and square with a goal that owed nothing to the referee or anyone other than our poor play / mistake.

He was apparently quite right to rule out Hansons effort, he reduced them to 10 men, what more do we want FFS? The fault for Saturday's defeat likes firmly at the feet of Jolley and the players, we lost fair and square.

I note that the referee seems to get a bad press very often these days especially when we are looking for excuses

Well from where I was sat (upper Findus) it looked like he had an absolute stinker of a game. Certainly the worst I’ve seen for quite some time in the 15-20 matches I see each season.
Like most on here I am not claiming he cost us the game.
We did that ourselves. Just wondered what stand you saw it from Swin and how do you think he performed compared with other refs you’ve seen over the last 5 years. ??

Quoted from Les Brechin

I wonder what our Fishy "Ref's assessor" Gobby made of Mr Marsdens's performance on Saturday?

In truth Les I have not seen a worse performance by a Referee as this guy. As you know to call a Referee a cheat is the lowest remark you could ever make towards one, and no I did not call him that, but he was very biased towards Mansfield, they ran his game for him, especially Bishop. This is still not an excuse for Towns inept performance against a very poor side and hopefully MJ will make amends this coming weekend. 8)
UTMM

Quoted from Ipswin

I think we are making ourselves look rather pathetic with this massive attack on Saturday's referee.

Probably we are over doing it. But it just added to what was a really frustrating performance.

Was the referee any worse at his job than Green was at controlling the ball? Probably not on balance.

I believe that Paul Marsden is an assistant principal at a school, now that is a job and a half without finding time to train and turn out and referee on a Saturday.

There are lots of other referees who have demanding stressful jobs, and referee, how I do not know.

There must be a move for more full time referees in the game. They could coach junior football in the week or do other sporty/fitness jobs as well as train and officiate. I am sure the FA EFL could finance this between them with help of gyms, schools and colleges paying for there services.

Refereeing at league level should be a JOB not something to do on a Saturday.

Quoted from FishOutOfWater

That was never a head injury

As soon as the ref stopped play their physio came on and gave that player a drink - he was sitting up, unaided, swigging away and just taking a breather

The ref must have seen that and should have realised he'd been conned - deserved a yellow for feigning injury. They book players for diving so why not for simulating an injury as well?

To be fair to their player, he never indicated it was a head injury. He landed flat on his back after an aerial challenge and was obviously winded which, I presume, is why the referee originally let play go on. The fact that he didn't then have the courage of his convictions to stand by his original, correct, decision isn't the fault of the player.

One of the rare occasions where their players weren't feigning injury following a fair challenge, in fact!

Quoted from Ipswin

I think we are making ourselves look rather pathetic with this massive attack on Saturday's referee.

Sure it sopunds like he he had a nightmare and made some huge mistakes and lost control of the game but we were beaten fair and square with a goal that owed nothing to the referee or anyone other than our poor play / mistake.

He was apparently quite right to rule out Hansons effort, he reduced them to 10 men, what more do we want FFS? The fault for Saturday's defeat likes firmly at the feet of Jolley and the players, we lost fair and square.

I note that the referee seems to get a bad press very often these days especially when we are looking for excuses

Appreciate you like to adopt the opposing view on many topics but can’t say I have seen many posters blaming the referee for the result and I do believe you had to be there to appreciate how poor he was, totally out of his depth.

His performance certainly didn’t help town but was certainly not the reason we lost. Very frustrating game but I am sure we will win games we don’t deserve to as the season progresses to balance out this type of result. We are not world beaters but as I said previously two decent signings in January could make us a very decent L2 outfit.

His performance was absolutely abysmal he was so out of his depth it was unbelievible. Even to the point of wasting time their keeper did everything in the book to waste time including standing like a statue pointing his finger at a fan for throwing the ball back at him.

The ref lost control of the game.

Even at the end it was Macca that had to stop Bishop and Cook causing a riot with our fans in the lower findus.

They were gesturing and shouting abuse at the fans inciting trouble the stewards had their hands full keeping the peace the ref was nowhere in sight.

Quoted from RichMariner

Who'd be a referee? I wouldn't.

Don't get me wrong, I think Paul Marsden's performance was abysmal. But the lack of quality is probably down to a lack of people wanting to become a referee.

The EFL promoted this lad from non-league last season. He's clearly not good enough, yet he's into his second season as an EFL official. If there were more referees knocking about, and more to choose from, you'd be able to find better.

I was at Mickleover Sports v Scarborough Athletic on Saturday. Mickleover had a certain Lee Hughes in their line up who scored the only goal but the referee had a great game. Explaining decisions, overruling his linesman correctly and stamping down on dissent with bookings.

Quoted from jamesgtfc

I was at Mickleover Sports v Scarborough Athletic on Saturday. Mickleover had a certain Lee Hughes in their line up who scored the only goal but the referee had a great game. Explaining decisions, overruling his linesman correctly and stamping down on dissent with bookings.

Failing to get a point at least was down to our own incompetence but the failure of all four officials to work as a team was striking. The non corner, time wasting, dirty tricks, Bishop's tirades and crowd baiting (sadly excused by Buckley), sub tackling Hess, shirt pulling etc. should all have been flagged by either assistants or 4th official.
Green should know better. His booking was for several minor offences and constant back chat achieving naff all. Mansfield were far more schooled in the dark arts.

Quoted from Croxton

Failing to get a point at least was down to our own incompetence but the failure of all four officials to work as a team was striking. The non corner, time wasting, dirty tricks, Bishop's tirades and crowd baiting (sadly excused by Buckley), sub tackling Hess, shirt pulling etc. should all have been flagged by either assistants or 4th official.
Green should know better. His booking was for several minor offences and constant back chat achieving naff all. Mansfield were far more schooled in the dark arts.

Was the Green booking for dissent then?

I thought it was because his shirt had got tangled up in the Mansfield players hands which meant that unlike his Stags team mates he wasn't able to roll around on the floor but was pulled along behind Green.... an obstruction of sorts  ;)