The referee from hell was back and was he back! Virtually every game that this referee has been involved there have been numerous bookings and sending offs but this was his best yet. Having had the previous weeks game called off the Village were looking forward to playing again especially on a decent surface. For this league fixture against Bird in Hand Res they for once had the luxury of 2 subs and this was despite three keys defenders in Dava, Leigh and Chris all being absent along with Brian and Tommy. So with Currie stepping in yet another position, Graham making his first appearance and Steve returning from injury the back four had yet again an unusual look about it. And with those players settling in the game was virtually decided in the first three minutes of the kick-off. Straight from the kick Sweeney put Booey through but he fired wide and then the Bird went up the other end and Crozzer fouled one of their forwards and a penalty was given. This was duly converted and straight from the restart the ball was played back towards the Village goal and a couple of slips and miss timed tackles saw a second goal being scored. 2-0 down and only 3 minutes on the clock, could the boys recover from such a disastrous start? Well they nearly pulled the game back and this was even more incredible as they let in another 2 goals towards the end of the first half in another 2 minute bad spell. By this time Crozzer had been booked for a mistimed tackle, the Village had dominated but their final ball or shot was lacking and then they were just as suddenly 0-4 down. However just before the half time whistle they were given a glimmer of hope when Gary finished off a great move to fire in at the far post. The half time talk was on if they kept up the pressure they knew they could still salvage something from this game and they started off in determined fashion. After peppering the Bird goal in a good ten minute spell the Village were rewarded when Booey hammered home a great shot and then minutes later he was felled in the box and they were awarded a penalty. Up stepped Mogget and it was suddenly only 3-4 and there was still plenty of time left on the watch. Gary became the second booking of the game for the home side and then he looked as though he had levelled things but his angled drive just flew past the post. Other chances came and went when the Bird broke away and played a ball up field to a forward who was clearly off side. However the ref waved play on and despite Jay saving his first attempt the second shot was converted. The Village players feeling well aggrieved let the ref know and he now decided to get his book out again. Having been sworn at throughout the match he sent Jay off for swearing and during the period it took to put Gary in goal and replace the exhausted Currie with Colin both Cottier and Mogget were given their marching orders for just talking to him about the situation. The Village were amazingly reduced to 8 men through this moment of madness from the ref but somehow once the game restarted they got a free kick down by the corner flag. Ritchie’s cross was met by Colin and he headed home in fine style for 4-5. Game on again even though they were 3 players short but Currie had now sneaked back on and they still had over 10 minutes left. Then the Bird using their numerical advantage played the ball down the Village right and Nic was adjudged to have handled it and contested this with the ref. Guess what? Yep another red card and then when the ref was told via the Bird players that Currie was back on he first tried to get Colin to go off but then Currie went back off. The free kick was eventually taken and he immediately blew the final whistle well short on what it should have been. The remaining Village players trudged off the field feeling well done over and not just by their opponents. Saturday night was once again spent writing up a report on this very poor referee.