Everybody arrived full of promise looking forward to the new season but the game was marred by a broken left leg for Mike Jefferson. Mossley seemed to have started quite well when a lunge on Paul Garvey which should surely have seen a straight red card seemed to alter the pattern of the game. From this point onwards the home side seemed to win every 50/50 decision and many 60/40 and 70/30 ones.
Eventually they took over and it came as no surprise when Garforth took the lead from a rash tackle which resulted in a penalty. The injury to Jefferson just before half time was sickening as the poor player had to stay on the pitch and it took an unbelievable 45 mins for an ambulance to arrive and the hospital was apparently only 6 miles away.
One can only shudder to think what happens if one of the residents of Garforth has a heart attack. Questions possibly also need to be asked about access to the stadium if as SJNR stated there was a fire. This will all need sorting before they arrive in the Premiership. Another point is what on earth was the ref doing while Jefferson lay injured on the pitch.
Surely a ref is responsible for the safety of the players and just as a matter of courtesy he should have made some appearance rather than staying inside until the ambulace disappeared. This isn't sour grapes but surely after a stoppage of almost a hour, the game should have been abandoned. Anyway the farcical situation was that 2 mins of the first half were played and the after a short break the second half was played. Two questions here :
1) Why on earth couldn't the 2 mins have been added onto the second half?
2) Are players allowed to play a full 45 mins after only having a 5 min break?
Anyway, hopefully Jefferson will recover and be back playing later in the season and maybe the season can start properly against Curzon. I won't be there as I'm going away for a few days so Come On The Whites.
