|
Parkes had what I described at the time as an inept game which was in contrast to his performance in the 1-0 home win against Watford last season when he again booked Paul Cook this time along with Tony Grant but had a reasonably good game.
He had a nightmare though the first time we came across him at Fulham in September 2000 when in a dreadful second half he managed to turn the game Fulham’s way after we had led for over half of the game.
Branchy again, along with Andy Cooke, were booked but he sent off Lee Briscoe somewhat harshly after 80 minutes. No one there that night will ever quite work out just how Fulham’s Chris Coleman stayed on the pitch after rugby tackling Andy Cooke in the penalty box. Parkes didn’t even give a penalty.
We shouldn’t expect a card happy afternoon, Parkes is not that kind of referee, and so far this season there have been 56 yellow and 4 red cards in 21 games. The latest of the four reds came just yesterday in the 2nd Division game between Swindon and Brentford, a game won 2-1 by Swindon.
Swindon’s Jamie Fullerton was the player sent off after 51 minutes. The decision by Parkes can hardly be criticised as Fullarton was shown his red card for what was described as a two footed lunge, the type that Jeff Winter doesn’t seem to be able to see.
A better performance than the one at Hillsborough but a similar result for the Clarets will just bring the curtain down on 2002 in the right way.