1-0 and ridiculous refereeing

Yes, I am talking about England's World Cup qualifier against Austria tonight at Old Trafford.

The one thing I took away from the game was the competency (or the lack of) of the referee. There were enough and more controversial decisions made during the game.

First, there was a penalty accorded to England when Michael Owen's arm was tugged inside the box as he was moving towards goal. A penalty beautifully converted by Frank Lampard. The second was another tackle on Owen inside the box which was a sure shot penalty, but was ignored by the ref.

Then there were the 2 quickfire Yellow Cards handed out to David Beckham. Neither of them was a bookable offense & repeated plays of the incidents showed extraordinary playacting skills on part of the Austrian team members.

And so Beckham, captain of the England side, was sent off & England was forced to defend their slender one goal lead with 10 men for more than 30 minutes. And the Austrians piled on a lot of pressure, action concentrating mainly around the England box.

But when the final whistle came, England collect full points from the match & moved into near certain qualification position for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Hope the refereeing in Germany is better.