Hamdon Mart

As I said, this is the first day I've watched it, just offering my thoughts on it. Don't recall it being this bad before.

First day I've sat down to watch the darts in these championships and 100% agree, pathetic. "Boring, boring tables". "Stand up if you love the darts", "Kolo/Yaya Toure song", "Chase The Sun" after every set and that's about it. Oh, and "Don't take me home".... And some of the announcers think they are celebrities with the way they shout the scores, Russ Bray being the worst. Almost unwatchable now with the sound up.

Sorry, have only just spotted this Dave. It's probably the wrong time of the year to ask such a question as everyone in the office is flat out over Christmas but a couple of points... firstly, a shot on target doesn't have to be saved by the keeper; it can be blocked by a defender (or indeed, a team mate!). Secondly, the in-ground analyst will call it "off target" or "on target" and this will be reviewed by two analysts in the office almost immediately. It will then be reviewed later on too by someone else so AFAIAA, four people. I obviously didn't see the game you are referring to but the fact that four people would have reviewed all the attempts on goal during the match and then calculated whether they were on or off target tends to suggest that the published stats are pretty safe to use.

I'd happily give you a lift but (a) I obviously have to stay till the bitter end and (b) it will cost me £9 to get my jalopy into town.

Can you get there before your work do?

This fixture has now been reversed due to the frozen pitch at Lewes.(Must have been that blooming dripping pan all this time!). Presumably a 7pm kickoff.

That is a very, very, VERY good result. Watched the reverse fixture last Monday & City did well holding Palace despite playing 30 minutes a man light after Joe Low's dismissal. This is even more impressive.

Yep, spot on. Not sure why I said Low's goal was a header, it was a shot but there you go. I did know that, honestly.

Cracking game, Gromit! Nowt much happened early on and with 39 minutes on the clock, it was still goalless. Somehow by half time, it was City 1 Palace 2 with Killian Phillips powering home a header for the Eagles and Seb Palmer-Houlden's excellent headed equaliser. Within two minutes though, David Omilabu tucked home for 2-1. joe Low then scored the third header of the game on 58 before a bizarre incident that saw him see red on 63 (ref cleared it up for me on the final whistle - red was for handball and not DOGSO as initially suggested). Will Buse saved the spot kick superbly from the much sought after Gordon. Game calmed down a tad after that although both sides had chances to grab a winner, Palace moreso than City. Incidentally for you geeky folk out there, there were five yellows and a red in the game. As mentioned, the red was for handball but the five yellows were for four different offences; timewasting, dissent, foul & entering field without permission). Palmer-Houlden impressed as did Zac Bell too.

Saw PSB twice last month on successive nights at Oxford and then Bournemouth. Absolutely superb show on both nights, well supported by a trio called Pale Blue Eyes whose best song sounds eerily like "She Sells Sanctuary" from the Cult. PSB supported the Manics last December & knocked me off my feet, thought they were so unusual but clever. Bought tickets to Bath Forum in May where they were fantastic again and have since bought their four main albums.

Ah, is that what happened? I only saw the last bit where he went down. Was just by the away dugout?

I've not seen it mentioned anywhere in the aftermath of the game but I'm fairly sure Alex Scott was caught by a stray arm from McBurnie last night. I only saw the last bit before Scott went down but I'm almost certain that McBurnie was sent on with instructions to clobber Scott as he was playing so well. And to answer someone's question further up the thread. I sat next to a former league ref at the last Rovers game and the assessors have special software that they use during the match to record KMI's (I think they're called, Key Major Incidents?). Assessor makes notes, he then gets sent footage of the game post match and they have a debrief with the referee the day after.

I'm not sure how they fund it, LR, as my team are Div One and therefore don't play any of them. Our longest trip each season is Bishop's Lydeard (46 miles) unless we are unlucky & get a long trip in the Vase or FA Cup. I think someone further up suggested Mousehole are funded with some connection to the holiday camp nearby, I'm not sure. From next season, the travelling will be cut right down which will help everyone really, maybe about time too. To be fair, the Cornish clubs grumble less about coming up here than the Bristol clubs do about going down there, that's been all too obvious. I guess Sherborne will be one of the beneficiaries of the new structure as they'll be almost certainly in the more Northern of the two Step 5 divisions so far less travelling.

The last match he officiated on UK soil was a charity match at Huish Park in aid of the Adam Stansfield Foundation back in the summer. Turned up, was exemplary on the day and joined in with the humorous side of things eg, Adam Stansfield's middle son was "allowed" to score but the keeper saved it in and Kettle gave a penalty & booked the keeper!! Allowed himself to be sent off by one of the players when he dropped his whistle near the end of the match. He was bad at times but Stroud is on a different planet IMO.

That's pretty much spot on, Bill. The fine minutiae of the restructure will come later on, I think, depending on who finishes where and how. We've had meetings over past few months on this (I'm secretary of a TWL club) and it received widespread support with some hoping it might have been introduced in time for this current season which would have proved nigh on impossible to implement at such short notice. I think the ultimate plan is to have the two Premier Divisions + the three feeder divisions with 18 teams each, totalling 90 clubs. That may not happen in time for season 23/24 due to ground grading issues etc but it is the stated aim. I think the two TWL divisions + the two SWPL divisions currently have 78 teams between them so quite a few extra clubs to come in from below.

I've reported that Weimann was cautioned for dissent as it was Klose that fouled the Preston player, Weimann's protest was right under Stroud's nose, ill advised when he's "on one". I'd also add that the Hernandez challenge on Scott was at least a yellow, maybe even a red but to not even give a FK was bizarre. One of the City bench queried this with Stroud and he just made the shape of a ball with his hands, indicating Hernandez got the ball. But as most of us know, getting the ball is not a free hit to tackle however you like! Although Robbie Brady did eventually get booked late on, he committed three or four fouls early on and should have been cautioned for persistent misconduct long before he did actually see a card. As someone else has said, the assistant on the Lansdown Stand side seemed petrified at times to wave his flag one way or another to make a decision. That wouldn't have helped Stroud to make the right call either as it's his call at the end of the day! And based on last night's showing, he needs all the help he can get.

Keith Stroud was woeful tonight. In fact, on reflection, he was even worse than that. I can't even muster up the energy to type out just how bad he was.

And also Director of Football at Yate Town until recently! Busy chap.

Has emerged as a leading candidate for the top role at the ECB. As good as I think he would be for English cricket (and he's an opponent of The Hundred, I believe), he would be a big loss to City IMO. https://www.thecricketer.com/Topics/england/richard_gould_emerges_frontrunner_ecb_chief_executive_role.html

Yes, think it was. Didn't Conway commit a foul just before Williams came charging in?

I'm 99.99999% sure he didn't show Williams the yellow card but NP in his post match press conference with Radio Bristol said he was out on Saturday now through suspension. Poor communication from the ref if he didn't, thankfully I've got my reasoning in to the OPTA guys about what happened. I'd also say that Atkinson can feel hard done by getting a 10th minute yellow; the analyst on the end of the phone to me tonight said Palmer committed six fouls and didn't even get talked to. Not to mention the ref missing that corner near the end.... Not the worst I've seen but far from acceptable with some of his work tonight.

Thoroughly enjoyed this afternoon's entertainment at the RHPC and as miser says, should have been more. Abi Harrison could have broken scoring records today if things had gone differently. One cleared off the line, smashed one against the bar, put two more wide and scored twice too. Glad to see she's got off the mark for the season, think more goals will follow. City overcame the loss of Vicky Bruce in the warm up and galloped into a two goal lead shortly after the halfway point of the first half (an Abi Harrison double) and when the chances came and went during the game, and with only a two goal lead, you feared what might happen if Palace pulled a goal back. Thankfully they didn't and City wrapped up the game with two in the final fifteen minutes, the second of which was a scorcher from Emily Syme. Been said before, usually by the esteemed @Erithacus, but Aimee Palmer makes evrything tick, such a good player and maybe a touch under rated. Other stars for me were Ffion Morgan and Emily Syme when she came on. Depth wise, I think City are as strong as I've seen them and must almost have two very good players for each position now. Really enjoyed today and congratulations to Lauren & her staff for a great afternoon.

I for one thank you for bringing it up. I've discovered I've had 67 laugh reactions for 134 posts, a nice precise 0.5 laughs per posts & I've also had 264 reactions from those posts which weighs in at a very healthy 1.97 reactions per post. Chuffed with those figures to be honest. * * (Of course, now I've created this post, my figures are all skew wiff again.)

Just in case you missed the start of the cricket at The Oval, here it is courtesy of the Barmy Army's Twitter feed.... https://twitter.com/TheBarmyArmy/status/1568544470131425280

The sport of cricket have also shown exactly how to do it this morning. A respectful silence followd by the South African anthem and topped off with our National Anthem. Superbly sung, emotional and rounded off with a stirring round of applause. Football, you've missed out here.