There is a factor that needs to be considered on Tuesday that has not been realised yet. The Ricoh is about to be blessed with by far the worst referee on the list, a certain Trevor Kettle. Brace yourselves for a night of unpredictable mayhem and madness if he is on his usual form. And don't say you weren't warned......!
Fuck me, is he still going? I remember seeing him referee a couple of games about 10 years ago. I never normally remember a referee but I do vividly remember him, and his crap haircut, he had two shockers in the space of 5 days (not at Cov, I was doing the 92 and I think these were Wolves in the league cup and Scunthorpe in the third div). He issued red cards in both games and the fans were going apeshit in both cases. In fact it made such an impression on me, I wrote about it in some length at my "92 noes" for my visits:
Wolves: "The crowd went berserk when Carl Cort got a dramatic straight red card for an innocuous incident off the ball. This was compounded a few minutes later as the referee gave a decidedly dubious penalty against the hosts, much to the chagrin of an incredulous crowd. As the referee walked off at the field at half time, protected by stewards, he was subjected to more abuse then I’ve ever heard for one official. Ipswich lacked the cutting edge with which to force an equaliser, despite the referee seeming to give them every chance by adding on several minutes of fictional injury time."
Scunthorpe: The game, however, was ruined by the referee, who seemed to be determinedly biased against the home side, the best example of this being his award of a penalty to Crewe. Not only was there no physical challenge as the centre-half tapped the ball out for a corner, there was no appeal from the visiting players or fans; the linesman, who had been up close, stood indicating a corner for several minutes, a fact pointed to by the Scunthorpe players as they remonstrated. The ref, rather than go and consult his official, simply ignored this advice and Crewe buried the spot-kick, leaving the Iron fans screaming blue murder. It was hard not to empathise with their chant of “you’re not fit to referee”, and as I looked closer, the most peculiar thought, both amusing and appalling, dawned on me. I’d seen that crap haircut before: the man in charge was none other than the idiot who had given Ipswich a penalty on Tuesday night at Molineux, and here he had done the same thing in exactly the same circumstances. The resemblance of the two incidents was uncanny, right down to the timing and the fact he had to be escorted off the field by stewards at half time under a tirade of abuse, one apparently joined in with by the assistant referee, who at the whistle raced over to remonstrate with his colleague. I think he’d realised he’d boobed, and this probably influenced his decision to give Scunny a penalty mid-way through the second, during a period sustained pressure. Again the challenge was totally innocuous, no protests were made in expectation, and mystified looks abounded, but he clearly felt he needed to even things up.
Might struggle to get that, they won't bring many midweek. Forecast is cold and rain and there's champions league on the telly. Lets be honest if you haven't got a season ticket its going to be hard to motivate yourself to get up there for a second time in a week.
ST holders will get counted int the total even if they do not rock up.