Town Go Down At The Expense Of Spence

Until last night, Jordan Spence had never received a red card in his career and if it had not been for some woeful referring by Keith Stroud once again, he would not have had.

The so-called ‘fair’ shoulder charge on Freddie Sears was something the line judge should have waved his flag for and if not, then surely the referee should have overruled him but astonishingly, neither happened.

This provoked Spence into charing into Aboubakar Kamara with the attitude ”if you let that go how about this’ and Kamara went down as if he had been shot. Amazingly, he recovered quick enough to score two of Fulham’s goals so once again, Stroud can be proud of himself for making another series of appalling decisions.

Remember it was Stroud he waved play on when McGoldrick was violently kicked in his groin region, which resulted in surgery and him missing a number of games. That was a clear sending off offence and yet it went unpunished.

Yes, we know that Fulham are a good side and it was because of this that manager Mick McCarthy had to find a way of countering their attacking persuasions. For the first 25 minutes Fulham were largely camped in the Town half but Bailkowski was largely untroubled so everything was more or less going to plan.

And slowly but surely, a Town side who were missing so many first team regulars through injury, came out of their shell and started to impose themselves and they were given a series of free kicks out on the right wing.

One of these lead to the goal, when the former Rangers pairing conspired to give the Blues an unlikely half time lead.

Martyn Waghorn swung over the cross and there was Joe Garner to head home his eight goal of the season, to the delight of the travelling faithful. This time it was Town who struck before the break and it must have been a great boost as they went down the players tunnel for their deserved half time cuppa.

Town had taken the sting out of Fulham at that stage and this pattern continued as the second half commenced. Even after the red card for Spence, Town stood firm for another fifteen minutes before all hell let loose and the home side scored four times in just seven miserable minutes.

Jordan Spence was understandably apologetic and said afterwards remorsefully, ‘ It has affected the result and I feel terrible about that. We were right in the game until that and all I can do is apologise to the players, the staff and the supporters.”

If there is anyone who should be apologizing for this result it is referee Keith Stroud! He was the catalyst for this outcome by once again making the WRONG decisions!


As Spence explained, ‘ It is the first time I have been sent off and anyone who that has followed my career knows I`m not that type of player or person. I would never try and hurt a fellow player.’


You didn’t Jordan, as Kamara proved later with his double strike and the only person who should be apologizing for this outcome is the ref.


Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich