Lee Clarke’s Forest Blog - better luck for Fryatt?

Nottingham Forest striker Matty Fryatt will no doubt be hoping for more luck when he opens his Christmas presents on Thursday morning than the awful destiny he suffered on Saturday evening.
Nottingham Forest's Matty Fryat. Picture by Rowan Staszkiewicz/PA WireNottingham Forest's Matty Fryat. Picture by Rowan Staszkiewicz/PA Wire
Nottingham Forest's Matty Fryat. Picture by Rowan Staszkiewicz/PA Wire

Fryatt should have walked off the pitch with a shiny new matchball for his mantelpiece, yet instead he will have drove home from the City Ground wondering what he had done to upset the assistant referee, who ruled not one but two incorrect offside goals out.

The standard of officiating is not even funny anymore and like many other Forest supporters who left the stadium after Saturday’s 1-1 draw, I am finding it even more difficult to comprehend.

Let me get one thing straight, officiating is not easy, not easy at all.

In fact it is very difficult, but the guys that are paid top whack at Premier League and Football League level simply have to be doing better than they are at present.

I will even pay some credit to the referee on Saturday, Roger East, who I thought had a really solid game and along with Andy Madley was one of the best we have seen at the City Ground all season. The Select Group official allowed play to flow as best he could and got all of his big calls spot-on – he can’t take any blame for the offside calls, of course.

The old saying is always that over the course of a season decisions even themselves out, but it still doesn’t help ease the frustration.

Games come thick and fast at this time of the year and the two points we dropped on Saturday thanks to not one but two bad offside calls could prove very costly later on in the season.

Forest will probably face retrospective action after showing the second contentious decision on the big screen inside the stadium – something which clubs in the Football League have to refrain from doing.

It does offer food for thought, though, for the powers that be as 22,000 people could see within 10 seconds that the goal scored was onside and should have stood.

Surely the officials themselves would welcome some assistance on these decisions to allow them to be as accurate and make as many correct calls as possible over the course of a season.

Tom Ince had his loan spell cut short after he was recalled by parent club Hull City on Monday afternoon.

Straight away the social media keyboard warriors were out in force saying he had been a waste of space and was awful from the start.

Apparently playing six games – two of which were substitute appearances is now enough to be able to slate a player as ‘rubbish’.

Ince is a bright young talent who is still learning his trade in the world of professional football and I have no doubt with the right guidance he will go on to be a good player.

He was by no means excellent for Forest and the fact he arrived at the City Ground in October having played just three games in two months for the Tigers was always going to point to a frustrating time on Trentside.

It once again boils down to our so-called ‘supporters’ thinking that professional footballers operate in the same manner they would do on FIFA 2015 or Football Manager.

Had Ince made three appearances in two months on Football Manager and then been loaned to the City Ground, I have no doubt that in his first couple of games he would have been the best player on the pitch and probably scored a stupid amount of goals.

Wouldn’t it be great if football was that simple?