Simon Fear, top-qualified (Grade One) referee, who has officiated at Conference level, takes his monthly look at the refereeing decisions affecting Liverpool FC, offering an impartial take on the men in black.

Liverpool faced a testing fixture list in March with matches against Wigan, Lille (Home + Away), Portsmouth, Man Utd and Sunderland. It’s fair to say that Liverpool have not been blessed with many breaks this season from the men in black and have suffered a number of contentious decisions. So how would the men in the middle perform this month?

Wigan (A) – Andre Marriner.

This was a game Liverpool were expected to win and with Roberto Martinez’s growing reputation for playing football rather than the physical tests Liverpool had encountered lately it was a game that should have caused Andre Marriner little difficulty. Marriner had refereed Liverpool three times this season, firstly when Liverpool defeated West Ham 3 – 2 at Upton Park, a match in which he issued 6 yellow cards. Secondly when Liverpool beat Man Utd 2 – 0 and Marriner issued 2 red cards and 5 cautions.  And finally when Liverpool played Wolves and won 2 – 0 following the controversial dismissal of Stephen Ward for two yellow cards.

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