On a mild and sunny afternoon, United were back to league action when they entertained Parkhouse at Rotsea Lane.
However, not for the first time this season, the football was overshadowed by an extremely indifferent performance by two of the officials.
The visitors started brightly and Olly Shelton might have done better but miscued his shot wide. United got into their rhythm and, from a Tom Shortland corner, Luke Taylor shot just wide.
On 17 minutes, keeper Ryan Ramsden received a harsh yellow card when the assistant, Steve Zielinski indicated that he had been sworn at even though spectators behind the goal were adamant that, although Ramsden had sworn, it was not directed at the assistant. Parkhouse were awarded a controversial free-kick on the edge of the United area. James Gee Pemberton managed to beat Ramsden with a shot that deflected off the wall.
There was another bizarre decision from the officials when Andy Etherington won a good tackle and referee, Mateusz Keicz, rightly signified he had got the ball. However Mr Zielinski signalled a for a free-kick. Tom Stephenson and Mike Pipes then combined and Stephenson’s shot was parried by Kurtis Hodgkinson, then hacked away for a corner from which, United deservedly equalised when Mike Bartlett headed home after 26 minutes. James Hall rightly received a booking for delaying the restart at a freekick.
Level-pegging was short-lived, as four minutes later, Parkhouse retook the lead from a corner when Luke Beatson looped the ball over Ramsden.
After a series of bizarre offside decisions by Mr Zielinski, which mainly went against Parkhouse, Danny Gee was allowed to get away with questioning the assistant’s ability without any form of punishment.
From a Shortland free-kick, Bartlett headed over when well-placed. Chances fell to both sides and Gee scooped the ball wide when he should have done better. Tom Giddings was rightly booked for a needless foul on Gee but there was no further incident before half-time.
The second half started with United on the front foot and James Hall had a chance before Perry Skelton was replaced by Shawn Matongo in a bid to add more potency up front.
Mike Pipes sliced wide after another good move by United as they took the match to Parkhouse. United were stretching themselves in a bid to come back and Parkhouse could have scored if Pemberton hadn’t impeded fellow player, John Parsons, who was well-placed to head home.
Parkhouse replaced Olly Shelton with Ashley Barber but, with time running out and United pushing for an equaliser, they broke and Gee calmly placed his shot wide of Ramsden to increase the lead.
Whilst United were regrouping the same player broke again and completed his brace within a minute.
United were awarded a freekick and Luke Beatson kicked the ball away but the offence went unpunished. United didn’t give up as they took the game back to Parkhouse. They were rewarded when, from a Shortland corner, Kris Walmsley flicked on and Matongo knocked the ball home from six yards.
With almost the last kick of the match, Giddings was dismissed for a second yellow when he was very harshly booked for supposedly pulling back Olly Shelton when he had actually been pulled back himself and, only minutes earlier, Gee had deliberately pulled back Walmsley as United broke and he received nothing other than a free kick against him; a theme that ran throughout the match.
Despite this, United can count themselves unfortunate not to have got something from a match in which they played a significant part.
There was another strong performance from Luke Taylor in the heart of the defence and Mike Pipes looked very effective up front. Unfortunately the good approach play rarely creates a chance at goal which showed as Hodgkinson had only two real saves to make.
Mr Keicz and Mr Zielinski especially had very poor games whilst the other assistant, Alex Thompson, performed competently throughout.As it was aptly put after the match, “they saw but they didn’t observe”.
Many thanks to main sponsors, Enertek International, The Insurance Partnership and the White Horse Inn.
United: Ryan Ramsden, Kris Walmsley, Tom Giddings, Andy Etherington, Luke Taylor, Mike Bartlett (c), Perry Skelton, James Hall, Tom Shortland, Mike Pipes, Tom Stephenson. Subs: Rich Overment, Shawn Matongo.
Parkhouse: Kurtis Hodgkinson, Matt Shaw, Mark Houghton, Luke Beatson, Ryan Williams (c), Olly Shelton, James Gee Pemberton, John Parsons, James Goodison, Danny Gee, Michael Wain. Subs: Ashley Barber
Referee: Mr M Keicz (Doncaster), Mr S. Zielinski (Skellow), Mr A Thompson (Scunthorpe).