Poll Doesn't Have to be Taxing

If you’re looking for ways to test a referee’s mettle, give him a Spurs game and see if he is sucked in by Zokora – as too many have been in the past. It can even happen to the best of them – or rather, those who fondly believe they are the best of them. As Graham Poll, in an unguarded moment, might concede.

The first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final between Tottenham and Arsenal at White Hart Lane will not be archived with Poll’s finest performances. There were too many bad decisions for that – among them a tendency to be duped (more than once) by the aforementioned Zokora, but most crucially an inexplicable free kick against Arsenal’s young Brazilian Denilson which gifted a second goal to Spurs, allowing Huddlestone to fizz in the low cross which Baptista inadvertently turned into his own net.

Fortunately, Arsene Wenger’s supremely talented young team possessed both the quality and the character to recover from the deficit Poll’s bad judgement inflicted upon them, but it is nevertheless disappointing to see a referee of his experience and talent in such poor form.