The worst referee I've ever seen...

Doncaster Rovers 3-4 Portsmouth

Npower Championship

Saturday 14th April 2012

Today is the anniversary of one of the most 'memorable' refereeing displays which I've ever witnessed so it's a good time to reminisce.

And that's 'memorable' for all the wrong reasons, by the way...

Dave Kitson celebrates the final goal (Photo: Unknown).

Doncaster Rovers were playing Portsmouth in a bottom of the table fixture in the Championship and the equation was simple; whoever lost would be relegated that day. In truth, both teams were going down and it was just a case of when, not if, relegation would be mathematically confirmed.

Rovers' notorious experiment of signing multiple foreign players on short-term deals hadn't worked (an idea which was always seriously flawed anyway) whilst Pompey were beset by financial problems and had been docked 10 points earlier in the year. Their nosedive would actually result in them slipping all the way down to League Two over the next few seasons.

The referee was Mick Russell from Hertfordshire - an experienced official who'd been on the Football League list for the previous six or seven years.

In the game, Rovers flew out the traps and were 2-0 up in practically no time whatsoever whilst James Coppinger also rattled the crossbar in just the eighth minute - an effort which, if it had gone in, would have left the visitors trailing by three goals and with Mount Everest to climb.

At half-time things still looked to be relatively plain sailing and nobody had any inclination whatsoever about the controversy which would happen over the next 45 minutes.

Pompey got back into the game when Habib Beye (one of the better players during the experiment) clipped Dave Kitson who then advanced into the box and theatrically tumbled to the floor - something which you can't blame the striker for as he was just trying to give his team the best possible chance of achieving a much-needed positive result. Was it simulation? Possibly; but definitely exaggeration! Was it a penalty? No, because the incident occurred outside the box! That was easy to see.

Anyway, Mr Russell decided it was a penalty and it was duly converted by Greg Halford but not before Beye was red carded - a controversial decision on its own because, depending on your own viewpoint, it was subjective as to whether there was a covering defender when Kitson was advancing through into a goalscoring position.

Only two minutes later, Halford had the ball on the spot again for another penalty - this time awarded following a handball and there was no complaints about it; it was a penalty!

Suddenly from nowhere, it was 2-2 and momentum seemed to favour Pompey, given their extra man advantage, but Coppinger quickly put paid to that with an instant response at the other end to restore Rovers' lead.

It meant that Pompey now had no option but to adopt a 'gung ho' approach during the closing stages to try and stave off relegation for a few more days and, as a result, Kitson became a focal point of the long balls they pumped into the box whilst Marko Futacs was also brought on.

They finally got an equaliser when Jason Pearce's recycled header from an over-hit cross went deep into the goalmouth towards Kitson who 'slam dunked' the ball past Rovers' 'keeper Gary Woods from only two or three yards out. He had his arms raised, it was blatantly obvious what had happened - and certainly many folk in the stadium knew precisely that it was a deliberate handball, but Russell and his assistants, somehow, failed to spot it. How is a mystery! It was clear and obvious and, even back in this era, nobody needed VAR to know the goal shouldn't count.

Dean Saunders was incensed on the touchline by this point and just a couple of minutes later, more controversy followed when a long right-wing cross was only partially headed away by Sam Hird, who appeared to have been pushed by Kitson, and Futacs slotted home to complete a remarkable turnaround which kept Pompey's heads above water for a few more days.

The fourth goal is subjective given that it was a push in real time and open to interpretation but the seeds had already been sown regarding Rovers' feelings towards Mr Russell.

At the final whistle, there was a mixture of sadness and anger. It was a weird atmosphere to say the least. Some folk had their heads in their hands because it had mathematically now been confirmed that DRFC were relegated whilst others were venting expletives towards the officials as they left the pitch.

It can only be speculated as to why Mr Russell had such an horrendous performance.

To debunk a few myths then I seriously doubt he was actually biased. Furthermore, I also doubt he had an agenda against Doncaster Rovers (as was ludicrously suggested by one or two conspiracy theorists in the days afterwards). Why would an official have an agenda against a relatively small club when he's probably had much more criticism from bigger fish in football?

My own view is that he got it so wrong through his own incompetence and arrogance.

I strongly suspect he was one of those officials who adopted the 'my way or the highway' approach in his work - thus alienating others who had to work alongside him. Officials know the good and bad ones amongst themselves and I doubt he was someone who others relished being around. He might have even believed he was unquestionable in his position as referee. For the blatantly-wrong first and third goals scored by Pompey, there's every likelihood in my mind that he may have over-ruled his assistant because he'd seen it better and he couldn't be wrong.

To get so much wrong smacks of pure incompetence.

It was certainly an horrendous display and I'd be interested to hear what type of character he was, in terms of talking to players. If he was arrogant/pompous; basically one of those pain in the arse referees that you can't talk to, it'd be enough to back up my theory on him.

I've no real qualms with how Kitson 'behaved' (if you choose to describe it as that). It was instinctive and, sometimes, you just do what you have to do on a football pitch. He probably expected to be penalised anyway when he slam-dunked home the goal which made it 3-3 - it was Mr Russell's job to stop him getting away with it and he failed to do it quite breathtakingly!

And there's more...

Around 18 months later, Mr Russell oversaw another game which I was at - Torquay United vs Mansfield Town in League Two - a dreadful 0-0 draw on an occasion where the kit man forgot to bring the kit (but that's another story altogether).

It wasn't a classic and it finished goalless but not without controversy as, in the very late stages of the game, Lee Beevers was bitten by Elliot Benyon and, true to form, Mr Russell didn't see it!

Working at Mansfield at that time, 'Beevs' was a placid and likeable bloke; the sort of person whom if he said something happened then you could take his word for it. In this instance, not only was he furious afterwards anyway, but he had the bite marks on his arm. There's no doubt the 'biting' occured - even though not much came of it afterwards in terms of FA charges, but it was another missed incident that Mr Russell could add to his long list of mistakes.

Thank f**k he retired not long afterwards!