Andrew Kitchen (Co. Durham) v Blackburn Rovers

How to Score
A. Decision Making (including use of advantage) - out of 25
B. Consistency - out of 25
C. Fitness and Positioning - of 25
D. Control and Authority - out of 25


Please only Rate the Ref if you attended the game and only do so, after the game has ended. Thank you

Wish I'd been there just for this.

A 12
B 7
C 12
D 9

He started off OK but really did get worse.

What should be good about this is that the Clarets allowed to rate will have got a great view of Flemming dragged down in the box and a foul blown against him for it.

Hopefully he just didn't see the penalty incident, because if he saw it, and didn't give it then he's been partying with Mr Coote too much

Buxtonclaret wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 04, 2025 3:12 pm

He started off OK but really did get worse.

Yep, he blew for the kick off ok.

The studs down the back of Sarmiento in the first half was certainly a yellow and possibly even a red, no card given. Not the best ref. Downhill from there really.

Don’t really care after we won but he was dreadful! Some shocking challenges he let go from them, Cantwell must have been in double figures for fouls by end and didn’t get booked. Numerous shirt pulls let go but then again Laurent was lucky to stay on!

Buxtonclaret wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 04, 2025 3:12 pm

He started off OK but really did get worse.

Started off ok by correctly blowing his whistle to start the game, how he and his assistant missed the studs down the back of JS achilles I don't know. Seen red for them before now. Shirt pulling by them became the norm. Bottled the pen and how he came to the decision of a free kick. Got the feeling he was trying to give them an advantage after we scored.

Far too lenient - to both teams.
I 'kin hate shirt pulling. Why isn't it an instant foul, wherever it is on the pitch?

NL Claret wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 04, 2025 3:18 pm

Started off ok by correctly blowing his whistle to start the game, how he and his assistant missed the studs down the back of JS achilles I don't know. Seen red for them before now. Shirt pulling by them became the norm. Bottled the pen and how he came to the decision of a free kick. Got the feeling he was trying to give them an advantage after we scored.

Shirt pulling got worse as the game went on.
But afraid its rapidly become part of the game, these days.
I personally hate it!

10
5
10
8

****. Shoves on Connor. Missed penalty. Shirt pulls on Anthony and Flemming. Woefully inconsistent and gave them niggles but not us.

A - 5
B - 3
C - 13
D - 3

Game was too big for him.

I'll be keeping and eye on those that thought he was good because he was horrific from start to finish. And although he was the biggest derby homer I've ever seen, a man who looked like he was about to burst into tears at any given point, he also missed a blatant second yellow for Laurent

A f*cking disgrace

Very poor. Loads of niggly little fouls and shirt pulls. The foul by Baker on Sarmiento would have been red if VAR was at the game. It was also a clear shirt pull on Flemming for the penalty which also would have been given with VAR. He had a poor game

The waving of an imaginary card is a yellow card, the Rovers lot did it twice, both unpunished

From watching on TV, I thought he was appallingly bad for both sides, more so for us.

Gave us nothing in 2nd half and allowed shirt pulling

Poor 1st half, scandalous 2nd half.
Ive always said refs are shite, not biased, but today I am actually not sure.
That was outrageous

5
5
12
5
Tried to let things go a bit, but just didn’t know when to blow & when not. Got pretty much all the big decisions wrong

Have corrected the header ... for that performance .

But to be fair he was equally **** for both sides

Can’t score him as I wasn’t there. However when I saw his name on Monday I shuddered and was in absolute disbelief he’d been given the game.

We have laws for a reason. The constant shirt pulling was a disgrace, the missed red was even worse 5 minutes in and the penalty he missed by giving them a free kick is one of the worst decisions I have ever seen. The fact he’s being discussed for promotion to the premier league is very concerning if they think he’s to the standard required.

I hope we don’t see him for a very very long time. He’s pushing Ward close for the worst refereeing performance of 2025. We might get a half decent referee once this season

He was guilty of trying to be too lenient because it was a derby I think. Utterly remarkable how Cantwell escaped a booking. Cullen then got away with a retaliatory tackle on him and the stall was set. That tackle on Sarmiento unpunished. Roberts cleaned out after the ball had gone and still nothing. Then he randomly booked Batth for a small shirt pull and Laurent for doing exactly what he allowed Cantwell to get away with earlier.

However that penalty claim. Flemming clearly having his shirt pulled..so much so you could see the monitoring vest he was wearing underneath and somehow and bizarrely he gave it the other way. Totally inexplicable decision. No idea how he saw it that way.

Poor..but we have seen a lot lot worse this season.

S
H
I
T

6
3
13
2

Perfect example of why referees need to award fouls, and give yellow cards appropriately. Keeping your cards in your pocket doesn't "allow the game to flow" or "show common sense". It just means players continue to try and get away with whatever they can. By the end of the game, trying to push a Burnley player over the advertising hoardings was essentially normalised. At times I honestly thought he wasn't watching the game and was just guessing, and by default giving the decisions to Blackburn

Should never have been put in charge of this fixture. A terrible decision which was proven to be wrong

A. 9
B. 8
C. 15
D. 11

In a nutshell: over promoted.

In first 5 mins Missed a terrible off the ball foul on Sarmiento by Baker. Was straight red but ref and Lino not looking. Also clear pen for drag down on Flemming. Plus lots of yellows for both sides Not fit to referee

Another absolutely rancid referee with zero understanding of football. Scared to death of making a big decision. The foul on Sarmiento was a proper nasty one and having now seen a replay it deserved a red. He booked Batth for shirt pulling then let him pull shirts for the rest of the game, most notably when he pulled Flemming’s shirt in the box - the clearest penalty you’ll ever see and a second yellow for Batth. He gives a foul to them. Another joker, another reminder of how bad standards are in this country.

The guy has the look and feel of a bad ref and he is one.

3
3
15
3

H O M E R - Disgraceful performance.

Whatever happened, to avoid crowd controversy, he gave them a FK . Missed just about everything. Should be struck off!

Possibly the worst display I’ve ever witnessed! He was atrocious!

7
7
10
7

Very poor overall.
Missed so much .
Gave too many non free kicks.
Too lenient and must be Todd Cantwells uncle.

Effing awful

3
1
15
7

4
5
11
3

He did his best to help them. Their big lump up front was barging into people, shoving, shirt pulling and nothing, the clearest of penalties denied, the dtuds down the leg,ignored, Burnley players shoved into the hoardings, dangerous play by every rule going again no action, the bstards player who ran at Roberts,shoved him over,again nothing. How many corners did he give them that didn't come of a Burnley player ?
Joker.

Only watched it on t.v. so can’t score, however, Interesting that many think Cantwell was lucky, Cullen could have walked first half. Agree about the shirt pulling on Fleming. In fairness to the ref he could have booked several more on both sides but tried to let 22 players stay on the pitch.

The list, even first half,

There's a fine line between letting a game flow and bottling making decisions, and far too many referees at this level couldn't find that line if their lives depended on it.

First five minutes or not, that stamp on Sarmiento's achilles should have seen a yellow card minimum and VAR would probably have called it a red. Ditto the Flemming penalty incident, and for balance probably Laurent's second offence.

Aside from that I've never seen so many late hits and shoves into the hoardings go unpunished and the amount of shirtpulling he was letting them get away with was comically off-the-scale. If their players want a Burnley shirt so badly we should send them a link to the online sale; it's not like they're good enough to earn one, after all.

beddie wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 04, 2025 5:10 pm

Only watched it on t.v. so can’t score, however, Interesting that many think Cantwell was lucky, Cullen could have walked first half. Agree about the shirt pulling on Fleming. In fairness to the ref he could have booked several more on both sides but tried to let 22 players stay on the pitch.

Cantwell spent the whole game fouling as did their striker before he was subbed. The rake down the back of Sarmiento’s calf should have been a straight red.

The worst refereeing performance of the season. We weren't great but it kept them in the game for so long.

Abysmal.

Another who has no idea about actual football.

A 8
B 8
C 15
D 7

Shouldn’t have been given this game

It was a dangerous performance. It soon became obvious that he would give our players no protection so we had to fight back. I have never seen such blatant shirt pulling go unpunished. The funniest moment was when Baker tore Cullens shirt off his back and had to hand it back to him. The phrase not fit to referee is used too often but this guy really wasn’t

Bizarrely I thought he kept a lid on the game pretty well but I think it was probably by accident.

He absolutely honked though.

A - 5
B - 5
C - 15
D - 15

I actually agree with Claret Tony I think he was given this game too early in his career and his lack of experience showed for me.

Was a poor performance and he had a lack of control on the game. You could see he was in trouble early doors when he pulled cantwell and Cullen in. He knew he couldn’t caution Cullen after he had let Cantwell get away with it.

Players don’t help refs but for me Kitchen caused a lot of his own issues yesterday.

A 7
B 7
C 12
D 7

For those interested. Andrew Kitchen has a game at Stamford Bridge at the weekend somehow

A)6
B) 10
C) 8
D)7

The linesman to our left was either totally useless or very dodgy