The trip back from Torquay on Saturday was a long one to say the least.

Torquay is definitely one of my least favourite grounds. In five attempts I've yet to win there and it was at Plainmoor I picked up my only red card.

Again it was the referee who made all the headlines over the weekend. By sending off one of our players he virtually ended our hopes of winning.

I think referees are a bit too quick in flashing their cards about and I just wish they would pause and think about what they are doing before sending people off.

Spectators come to games to watch 11 v 11 and I feel sorry for our fans who spent all that money and time to travel down only to to have their day ruined by Mr Danson.

Again it brings up the debate of whether all referees should be full-time. He was a long way away from the incident and his assitant on that side of the pitch must have been about 5ft5 tall and 15 stone so how he thought he could keep up with play is beyond me. Surely the officials should be as fit - if not fitter - than us to keep up with play.

To remove some of the boredom on long trips home like the last one, a few of us play cards while others watch videos. While our card school is for small amounts of money, I can't see what the problem is with Michael Owen and the amount of money he lost. Surely it is his money and he can do whatever he likes with it. Whether he loses one pound or one million pounds is his business and no one else's as far as I'm concerned.

Finally congratulations to Micky Barron and his wife Nicola on the birth of their baby son Oliver -let's hope he can keep Micky up all night before our derby game in a few weeks time.

Published: 28/01/2003