arbitro

It was lip service for the benefit of the media and people in the ground. I'm pretty certain that the referee would have known when they went off that the game was finished as most of us did. How long was it before the ground staff appeared on the pitch for the forking token gesture? If was almost like Canute trying to hold back the tide.

I'm pretty certain in my mind that had the situation been reversed and we were down to the men and losing you would be saying the opposite. And I'm also pretty certain you'll deny this.

There is no prescribed way of doing it. Personally I thought the referee did the right thing by focusing on the worst area. I really didn't think there was a cat in hells chance of the game restarting and the cursory 'inspection' was purely aesthetic in my view and perhaps a bit of arse covering for when he compiles his report.

I have already mentioned player safety which will have been paramount in the referees decision. And anybody with a modicum of sense would agree with this.

I saw the River Darwen by the Empire Theatre and it was like a raging torrent. The noise was frightening.

I'm pretty sure that any disciplinary sanctions will still apply.

The referee will cite player safety for which he has a duty of care. As much as I'm frustrated it would be difficult to argue against. And if the boot was on the other foot we would be delighted.

A hugely disappointing end to what I thought would have been three deserved points. In fact I fancied us to get another goal but it just wasn't to be. It was a difficult decision for the referee to make and it was a darned if you do situation for me. Personally I would have toughed it out but the referee will undoubtedly cite players safety as his reason and I fully accept that as frustrating as it is. There is no hard and fast ruling here - it's simply down to the referee. What I would criticise was the poor communication via the PA system. In the game I thought we were once again really good all over the pitch and took the game to Ipswich and didn't let them settle. Defensively we were solid, in midfield we were industrious and creative in equal measure whilst the attackers out a really good press on the Ipswich back four. It's such a shame that the performance will not be rewarded by anything but the real positive for me after that is the way we played which gives me plenty of hope.

I haven't heard anything. As we discussed earlier last week the coming week will be telling in terms of resources and availability.

He was in a boot a few weeks ago. I was told it was a five week out injury but not what the actual injury was.

8-3 now.

It's a fair conclusion to draw. He does use his physicality in the right way but he has other assets. His touch is good, he seems quick and knows where the net is. Given that he is 17 he will probably grow even bigger though.

I'm told Carter injured a hamstring in training on Thursday. I rate him but his unreliability should force their hand into bringing an experienced centre half in.

37 Now 6-2 with Joseph scoring his second.

Today is the under 18's sixth league match and including today so far there have been an incredible 35 goals. Edit: It's now 4-2 with Valentin Joseph notching.

I would prefer McLoughlin at centre half to Miller if Carter doesn't make it.

I've always found the staff at Ewood really helpful and patient with old gits like me. I had a problem last week when my granddaughter became me on the ticketing website and she doesn't have anyone in her network so I couldn't order tickets for people in my network. It transpired that our accounts have the same email address (she is 13 and doesn't have an email of her own) and this was causing the problem. It was sorted out on a five minute phone call with an extremely competent lady.

The ticket office is open from 10 am tomorrow but your season card from last season should work unless you have moved areas or gone into another category. We have used ours for both home games so far.

I was told earlier that the barcode (or whatever it is called) changes regularly to stop ticket holders from passing them on through screen shots. I can't confirm whether this is true of not but has anybody else noticed this.

I heard 'Sonny' shouted several times.

In truth the under 21's have been disappointing this season and having seen them live several times so far he seemed to have been a bit subdued in the technical area. Probably the right decision although in fairness we don't know the circumstances.

Perhaps so but there have already been occasions this season (Tuesday at Rochdale for example) when some of them could have been given some game time but weren't. Aside from Carter I can't remember any first team squad player being involved. In PL 2 you can use six over age players including a goalkeeper.

The under 21 and under 18 resources will be really stretched next week as we have Middlesbrough in PL 2 on Monday night and Blackpool at 1 pm the following day in the Central League Cup. In my view it's quite strange scheduling having two games so close to each other.

We weren't sure at the time but suspected something as per MarkBRFC reply below.

Missed chances and poor defending cost us dearly last night. The amazing sight of seeing two Rochdale players substituted in the first minute is something new for me after watching thousands of games. I counted four really good scoring opportunities but our finishing was poor. The positive side to that was the passing and movement to create them. For the three Rochdale goals we should have defended much better. On the night there were too many 6's when we needed a few more 7's and 8's. It's been a bad start to the season for the under 21's and there needs to be a bit improvement all round if we are to pick up some results.