... back on topic...
I was very well impressed by Roger East performance: the man will never stand up as a Crujjff of the refereeing but, imo, he was consistent to the standard he set (always the main hint of a referee's solid performance).
I think the penalty was rightly awarded under the rules, although being one of those that fans of the opposition side, in England, will provably get pissed off by.
even more importantly, he will go on records for being one of the few to award a penalty
on nil/nil situation, and against a side whose stats prove they're consistently hard to break, to the Club/side which actually happen to be the one that, by large and far, camp on the opponents box most in the Premiership, but funny enough "tend" to end up the season having been awarded fewer that a certain side flying red colors, which play the most constantly negative game....
not as much a stats nerd to assert it, but I think the ratio of penalties awarded to City when the tie is yet to be broken, would be stunningly odd in comparison to those awarded when the tie is already done an dusted.
as premised might be wrong...

EDIT: when considering that I think that very few had bet on that, two ties in a row, reffed by none but Pawson and East, would have gone down so smooth and referee's influence free.... I reckon that what I called a "Beefy's guts feeling"should now more properly upgraded to a Beefy's spot on opinion.
will it last all season long? hard to tell but I must confess I had a shiver at reading this intelligent note by PD.
Peter Doherty (AGAIG) wrote:I heard a remark on the radio after the game earlier saying it wouldn't be good for the league if one team ran away with it. Got me thinking about these cunts again... We'll see.