Spread the love

 

Preston North End manager Simon Grayson’s comments following his side’s last gasp defeat to Brentford on Saturday, although made in the moments after watching his side come away with nothing (with the point he’d come for freshly ripped from his grasp) has raised a question mark over the Bees players’ behaviour. Namely, are we, or are we not, a team full of divers?

I like to think that I tell things as I see them… Yes I am biased in the heat of the match, I make to apologies for that as a diehard Bee, but afterwards, I am usually fair enough to acknowledge if we have got away with an incident, or are a the real victims. And I tell you something for nothing right now, Uwe Rosler’s team are not a bunch of simulating cheats… no way. Never have been and hopefully never will be.

Adam Forshaw was shown a red card at Crawley after the referee had got a bee in his bonnet that the former Evertonian was going down too easily, but Beesotted said in its match report that we felt the ‘foul’ that lead to a red was in fact a penalty – so perhaps Forshaw’s booking against PNE was because of a harshly earned reputation. From where I was standing, Forshaw was foulded against PNE and shouldn’t have been cautioned.

However, Marcello Trotta, who is clearly not the player he was when he arrived from Fulham, IS guilty of chucking himself to the floor and should be embarrassed by his actions.

Singling out players in a negative light, and wagging the righteous finger is rarely a good thing if you’re trying to keep a happy ship, but Trotta’s dive could have cost us dear. If the referee needed an excuse NOT to have given what WAS a clear penalty, then the Italian youngster’s self-induced tumble was it. Thankfully the match official, Gavin Ward, didn’t let what had gone before taint his thought process and he was still confident to make the match-clinching call. It was a mighty big call from the ref.

Uwe should really take Trotta to one side and have a word – we all know that the outcome to this season is too close to call right now, the last thing we need is an unwarranted reputation that could cost us dear in the run-in. If Clayton or Wright-Phillips is taken down in the area next week at Sheffield United and the action replays show it was a nailed on pen, but the referee waives play on because he’s read in his report that one or two of the Brentford lads are fall guys, then the actions of Trotta could be partially to blame.

Dave Lane