Martin Atkinson (Nottingham Forest v West Ham United)

Nottingham Forest 5-0 West Ham

Referee: Martin Atkinson

Assistant 1: Darren England

Assistant 2: Simon Long

4th Official: Roger East

TRR Assessor: James Anderson
Date: 05/01/14
Venue:City Ground
Kick Off:  12.00pm
Competition:Fa Cup 3rd Round
Match Difficulty: Easy

THE REFEREE

Foul Detection

 GOOD 

Mr Atkinson's foul detection was generally very good. He knew when to give a foul and when to let it go in what was a fairly easy game to referee for him.The two big decisions being in the 12th minute when Nottingham Forest's #21 was fouled by West Hams #34 and Atkinson was spot on to award then penalty. Then in the 29th minute Forest's #15 was tackled just before shooting by West Ham's #39. It was a great spot by Atkinson to see that #39 had got a touch on the ball before bringing down the player.





Positioning

 GOOD 

Mr Atkinson's positioning was fairly decent with obviously the two correct calls being given for the penalty appeals for Forest by being in a credible position. I wouldn't say he was caught any many times due to it being a fairly slow game and mainly one sided. 

Man Management

EXCELLENT 

Like already mentioned, it wasn't a very challenging match for Martin Atkinson, however his man management lead to this factor. The contributing factor of this shown what in the last minute when West Ham's number 15 and Forest's number 3 were shoving each other at a throw in. Atkinson simply used a bit of common sense and spoke to both players.

Card Issuing

EXCELLENT 

No problems with the two yellow cards. The one for West Ham was for their number 35 who hauled down Forest's number 39 as he was about to break. Forest's yellow card was in the last 4 minutes of the game when Forest's number 27 dragged back West Ham's goalkeeper who was trying to release the ball. Both yellow cards were very easy.

Fitness

EXCELLENT 

As mentioned, not a fairly testing match for Atkinson, so it didn't really test his fitness but, he was in the correct position when needing to be, which obviously meant he had good fitness.

THE ASSISTANT REFEREES

Assistant 1 -  VERY GOOD [8.5]
Assistant 2 -  VERY GOOD [8.5]

Both assistants had very steady games. Both of them supported Atkinson well and gave decisions when they felt they needed too.



OVERALL

VERY GOOD 

SCORE

8.5/10