Today's decisions.

[Leicesterbaggie]

If you are a Brighton fan, yes, you would feel hard done by. However, if you look at the incidents individually you could claim the opposite.
The first penalty, in my opinion, was harsh. Where is a player supposed to put his arm when trying to jump to head a ball? There was no way did Okay attempt to handle the ball.The second penalty was also dubious. It could be claimed that Townsend played the ball first. Having said all this, they then proceeded to miss both penalties and that's their own fault and not bad luck.
As for the free kick, Mason should not have let the free kick be taken in the first place. Johnstone was still on the post organising the wall when the whistle was blown. Total incompetence on his part.
I know Brighton fans will feel aggrieved but there are two sides to the story. By the way, we deserve a bit of luck with all the 'iffy, decisions that we have received this season.

[TipperaryBaggie]

Im afraid Leics that there is no rule about allowing a team to organise a wall before the free kick is taken. It shows great enterprise to take a free kick quickly, as long as the referee has agreed to it. In this case, Mason apparently had agreed and then bottled it when Dunk scored. If that had happened against us, I would be very upset.

[saltnshake]

Im afraid Leics that there is no rule about allowing a team to organise a wall before the free kick is taken. It shows great enterprise to take a free kick quickly, as long as the referee has agreed to it. In this case, Mason apparently had agreed and then bottled it when Dunk scored. If that had happened against us, I would be very upset.

As big Sam said when was the last time you saw a quick free kick taken from just outside the box? it doesn't happen anymore, I think that's why he blew the whistle a second time he realised we weren't ready and he had made a mistake, as for the second penalty that was a poor decision and I can't understand why VAR didn't look at it Townsend clearly played the ball.

[mickd1961]

As big Sam said when was the last time you saw a quick free kick taken from just outside the box? it doesn't happen anymore, I think that's why he blew the whistle a second time he realised we weren't ready and he had made a mistake, as for the second penalty that was a poor decision and I can't understand why VAR didn't look at it Townsend clearly played the ball.

Dunk scored in exactly the same way from a free kick at Liverpool last season having asked the ref if he could take it quickly.

A total lack of awareness and nous from Johnstone, keepers should do their homework on opposition players like outfield players are supposed to.

Even playing in goal as a kid down the park with mates, when it was my turn in goal I listened to what my dad told me as a nipper, it doesn't matter if you're an outfield player or the goalie.......you NEVER take your eye off that stationary ball even for a second.

Very poor by Johnstone I thought.

Having said all this, not one pundit pointed out that two Brighton players were stood offside when that free kick was struck, one of which was central to the goals themselves.

The punditry is as bad as I've ever known it.

Micah Richards FFS.......talk about tokenism..........the bloke is a total oaf.

[Barrera]

And to add fuel to the fire .... at least one ... and maybe two Brighton players were offside for the free kick “goal”. What was unclear was whether they were obstructing the keeper .... but VAR never looked at it ..... I suppose because Mason ruled the free kick should not have been taken.

I don’t feel sorry for Brighton at all .... as Leics says they were awarded two very dubious pens and missed them both .... and the goal was not clear cut for me .....

[Barrera]

Just read Mick’s comment on the offside .... maybe need to read all comments before replying ...!

[WBA1955]

The worst refereeing decision I have ever seen was at Stamford bridge in 1969, when Astle scored and the referee disallowed it and gave us a penalty instead.
Bonetti then went and saved it, but fortunately Astle scored the winner later in the game.
I have never seen anyone disallow a goal and give a penalty before or since.

[Yarmbaggie]

Dunk scored in exactly the same way from a free kick at Liverpool last season having asked the ref if he could take it quickly.

A total lack of awareness and nous from Johnstone, keepers should do their homework on opposition players like outfield players are supposed to.

Even playing in goal as a kid down the park with mates, when it was my turn in goal I listened to what my dad told me as a nipper, it doesn't matter if you're an outfield player or the goalie.......you NEVER take your eye off that stationary ball even for a second.

Very poor by Johnstone I thought.

Having said all this, not one pundit pointed out that two Brighton players were stood offside when that free kick was struck, one of which was central to the goals themselves.

The punditry is as bad as I've ever known it.

Micah Richards FFS.......talk about tokenism..........the bloke is a total oaf.

Not sure which of the Sky channels I was watching because one of the commentators DID say that they were looking at the offside for the 2 Brighton players. The ‘ex player’ with him commented that he couldn’t see how the VAR could see if they were in Johnstone’s eye line and he certainly wasn’t lined up to save it anyway.

In my humble opinion Johnstone was totally to blame. Posing stood leaning on the post totally oblivious to anything. I also can’t see why anyone didn’t stand in front of the ball either. To say the least, we were naive and amateurish and if the goal had been given we would have got what we deserved.

[DaveP67 is back!]

Not sure if any of you watched Wales England in the Rugby after our game, talk about diabolical refereeing! Similar to our game the red allowed Wales to take a free kick while our captain under instruction from the ref was talking to our players. Shocking. Perhaps it’s not just football suffering from poor officials but to me it seems the refs who used to be anonymous figures now seem to want to be the centre of attention...

[Leicesterbaggie]

Im afraid Leics that there is no rule about allowing a team to organise a wall before the free kick is taken. It shows great enterprise to take a free kick quickly, as long as the referee has agreed to it. In this case, Mason apparently had agreed and then bottled it when Dunk scored. If that had happened against us, I would be very upset.

You are perfectly correct that we would have been upset had it been the other way around. However, the whole incident would have been avoided but for the incompetence of Mason. There is a list as long as your arm of contentious decisions that he has made, both as an onfield referee and as the VAR official. I feel that he should be stood down because players will have little trust in his decision making. Let's face it, many of us on here were fearful when we saw that he would be in charge of the game and also feel that the standard of refereeing in this country is poor. As a post script I still believe that Brighton can't really complain as they missed two dubious penalties.