Shawdale 1 Royton Athletic 0 (Match Abandoned 57min)

Match Abandoned Due To Verbal Abuse…….

There were extraordinary and shocking scenes at Heyside Park this morning, with the referee abandoning the game after 57minutes, due to Health and Safety reasons. Due to the fact that he was coming under increasing verbal threats by the Royton Team, after he had sent one player off and yellow carding another player on 55 minutes.

This was not the way that Shawdale wanted the game to end; however from the thirtieth minutes, the visitors lost their control, composure and revved up at every decision given against them.

The referee did control the game remarkably well but finally enough was enough and he blew his whistle not long after the turn around, to end the game It was an even and scrappy game up to this point, Shawdale in control in the early exchanges, Durrant going through, only to be denied by a great save by the visitors keeper. Royton caught the home side on the break on a couple of occasions, but came to nothing. On 17min, good interplay by Dawson and Durrant, saw them set up Barnes, to hit a sweet shot into the back of the net.

And that was it really……..

It was a scrappy game with the home side not really getting into their stride and being hindered by reckless tackles by the Royton side.

On 55 minutes, the referee became the focus of the game, by sending a Royton player off, then showered by abuse, leading to another player getting ten minutes. The next two minutes was embarrassing to hear grown men verbally abusing a referee, as without him, there wouldn’t of been a game at all.