WELL it was certainly an entertaining game at Chester on Saturday. It wasn't brilliant but it's the result that's all important and we came away with three well deserved points.
The only downside was the dismissal of Danny and the injury that Fraser picked up. Danny's first booking was very harsh and the result of pressure being put on him by the Chester players.
Professionalism from their point of view but the result of
a poor referee from ours. Fraser's injury was the result of one of the worst tackles I've seen for a long time.
He was lucky that he didn't break his leg again. If Fraser had broken his leg it would not be life threatening unlike the injury that Barnsley's Iain Hume suffered in last Saturdays South Yorkshire derby.
Opinions are divided as to whether Sheffield United's Chris Morgan intentionally hurt Hume. I think it's safe to say that he didn't mean to fracture his skull though.
It will be incredibly difficult to prove that there was intent but if there is legal action against Morgan and Sheffield United then the outcome would be anybody guess.
A precedent was set a few years back when Gordon Watson successfully sued Kevin Gray for half a million pounds for a tackle that ended his career. Coincidentally that was also in a derby match (Bradford versus Huddersfield).
More worryingly for me is that Hume was allowed home and could quite easily have died in his sleep if symptoms had occurred slightly later.
The Barnsley first team physiotherapist was unavailable on the day so the academy physiotherapist was in charge and he followed the instructions of the club doctor who dismissed it as 'slight concussion'.
The physiotherapist was concerned that the injury could be something more sinister but told Hume that he had to follow the doctors advice but if the headache persisted then go to hospital. Once again it highlights the importance of professional backroom staff that largely go unnoticed by fans. The physiotherapists little words of wisdom possibly got a slack doctor off the hook.
Going back to Chester and the appointment for the third time of Mark Wright.
On one hand it seems slightly strange as he's not that popular with the fans but on the other hand he's been their most successful manager in recent history. You also have to take into account the reason for his previous two departures; the first for shall we say well documented non-footballing reasons and the second, after he'd kept them up the previous season, when they were 13th in the league.
Whatever has gone before, Mark Wright must be happy to get a third spell in the hot seat.
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