SWINGS AND ROUNDABOUTS......BROKEN?

STOKE CITY FC  2 WIGAN ATHLETIC  2

I suppose its another point gained,although 2 points from two home games is a mite disappointing.And all this stuff about things evening themselves out,your swings and roundabouts,well I'm not convinced by it.From where I was amongst the 'sheep shearers' in Cardiff for the New Year,it looked to me that things were somewhat awry in the playground.

We didn't play as well as we might have to begin with,and we fell behind on the stroke of halftime.Had Moses been a Stoke player he would have been a disappointed man because the ball,instead of finding the net,would have cannoned back out off the bar ,and away to safety,or of course it would have rebounded into a grateful keeper's arms.But he scored,unlike Huth later,and as we all know from his fine header the ball did indeed rebound off a post into keeper Al Habsi's arms.

Fair do's though in the second half the referee did see Jerome's goal bound header deflected away/saved by a defenders arm.Walter's netted the subsequent penalty to bring us level,and Caldwell was dispatched by Mr.Oliver for an early bath.Then it got better still,a Crouch flick was headed further forward by Walters into the path of the fast moving Jerome.He scored with aplomb,steering the ball to Al Habsi's left into the bottom right corner of the net.Job done with six minutes to go!

But no,three minutes later,the ref provided the ten men with a leg up.A 50/50 mutual push/ shove/grab in our penalty area,featuring Shotton and Rodallega,saw the latter fall to the ground after the fashion of a swooning pantomime dame.The tug  on the heartstrings  was too much for our warmhearted official to resist,and he duly awarded a penalty,which sub Watson converted.

Now being a fairminded man you can imagine my confusion,when in the closing moments,Shawcross was hauled down much more obviously in the Wigan area,but we got nothing.Clearly the ref's well of Christmas spirit had run dry.

A very happy New Year to you,but don't talk to me about swings and roundabouts,at least for the time being!