County v Rotherham

County's unbeaten start to the season continues in a hard fought game against Rotherham, who didn't look a bad side though resorted to some rather dubious tactics throughout the game. The match from our point of view was a frustrating one, especially with the controversy over the first Rotherham equaliser, but a point was probabl a fair result. Report by Martin

Left	Ahead	Right

As always, click on the pictures for bigger versions

Matchday routine was distracted for this game - before the game there was Trust stuff to do, and after the game, it was to be off to Manchester for a friend's Stag Do. It was therefore a sober Martin that was to observe this game, and I'd brought the car for the required speedy escape afterwards, with it on the NCP across the way. Caz set off in the direction of the Armoury as I headed to EP to check out the Trust Gazebo that you'll be seeing more often at games now. For this match, it was under the Cheadle End Stand - it will be moving about the ground in future weeks! The first task was to sell some raffle tickets, and generally answer any questions, help people join, renew that kind of thing. It's quite interesting and good to meet loads of County fans, albeit with my memory remembering everyone's names becomes a bit of a nightmare! This kept me occupied until kick off and then it was time to find a seat, taking the Trust banner advert with me in a shoulder pack. Not fancying the chances of it staying in one piece if I took my season ticket seat in Upper Tier 1, I found Mikey who was here for another game and they we headed down to the Lower Tier to find Caz and her folks who were also at the game. This turned out to be a good decision picture wise, as, after a promising start from County, Elding bulleted home a header to put us 1-0 up. To say he looked pleased to have scored was an understatement - he raced over to the fans, directly in front of where we were sat, and bellowed at the top of his voice while the rest of the squad piled in to join with the celebrations. At this point, it was no more than we deserved, we'd had the better chances of the game. For the rest of the half, it became a bit more even, and up at the far end, the Rotherham fans were getting excited as a header went narrowly wide of the goal. We stuck it out though and went in at half time 1-0 up.

Elding scoring the first	I'd say he's quite pleased...	Team celebrations

The second half was where all the action started. Rotherham had a goal disallowed for a push - the ref giving the goal but the liner flagging it out. It was a close call to be honest, though in the pic in this report there does appear to be a fair few County players falling over as the ball hits the back of the net. The next incident of note was when Rotherham won a free kick on the right side of the pitch (as viewed from the Cheadle End). Their player took the kick, as the ball was in the air the referee clearly whistled. We presumed it was for offside or he'd spotted a push. The County players all stopped as they'd heard the whistle - so did Rotherham except for one player, who put the ball home. We all looked on bemused waiting for the ref to disallow it, but to everyone's surprise, then anger, he was signalling for a goal. Even the County players appeared shocked by this. Gannon, over on the touchline, was absolutely livid and was quickly telling the ref what he thought of the decision, to the point where the ref sent him off. Suffice to say, the Cheadle End was not happy, and quick to let the ref hear exactly what we thought he did when he was on his own.

With the fans still furious, Rotherham pressed to try and take advantage while we were distracted. Not long after, County marched up the pitch, and the ball was crossed over where Griffin dived in to head the ball home and put us 2-1 up. Wild celebrations from all around the ground, including Conrad Logan who was busy running around his six yard box looking extremely pleased! The goal had come against the run of play but we didn't care.

The free kick bogey curse was to return though. They were awarded one on the opposite side of the pitch, and whipped in a similar ball. Logan came out to catch it, but McNeil, charging back to defend, headed it before Logan could get to it straight into the top corner of the net for a rather spectacular own goal.

This somewhat threw us, and it was Rotherham that looked the more likely to score in the closing stages. We did have one more chance - a header against the post, but it wasn't to be and we held out for a 2-2 draw. In the circumstances, not a bad result, Rotherham look a decent side though some of their tactics were debatable and they spent far too long complaining/cheating and generally being unsporting for our liking.

McNeil and Dicko	Dicko Chance	Their Disallowed Goal (ball hitting net)

Leaving EP fans were still quite upbeat, though miffed at the decision for their first equaliser. The usual evening in the Chunky was postponed because of the stag do, though we heard that Les Pollard was suitably teased for his Chesterfield incident last week, including the addition of "I'm still standing" on the jukebox... and in the best traditions of a night there, Scarf left his bag and had to fetch it the next day.

Meanwhile, up in Manchester, I spotted Carlo Nash wandering around with a group of friends, and one of the girls from Emmerdale was in the pub absolutely wasted.

Mansfield away next - will be a good indicator of how we can do this season. The start has been a decent one, keep it up chaps.