Three days ago, Anthony Taylor blew for halftime a few seconds before the minimum of three minutes added on had elapsed, an error he later compounded in other ways, like not sending off Claudio Yacob for several bookable offenses. It was not a good day in the office for the referee. And if we listen to the righteous anger coming from Everton manager Roberto Martinez, today's referee, Mike Jones, was not much better.
Of course what Martinez and others seem to be forgetting is that the fourth referee's board is always a "minimum of" x amount of minutes added on. We've come to know this all too well over the years, with referees extending those minutes thanks to time-wasting antics both from players and managers and substitutions and the like. In fact, it was Ramiro Funes Mori's overlong celebration that prompted Guus Hiddink to gently remind the referee to not short Chelsea of the allotted time.
"There was seven minutes extra time, so I said, ‘Ref, okay, they are celebrating at least one minute in the corner.'"
-Guus Hiddink; source: BBC via Football 365
That one more minute was enough to make all the difference, though admittedly, John Terry was offside when he scored the equalizer. Oopsies, Mr. Linesman (who was either unsighted, or didn't think it was Oscar who headed the ball, or just simply missed the call). Here, Martinez's anger is understandable. We've all been there, Bobby.
"Sometimes it goes in your favour during a season but you have to be fair. Why should I deny it? Oscar touched the ball and John was offside but he scored a beautiful goal."
-Guus Hiddink; source: Chelsea FC
Two points dropped. One point rescued. Moral victory. All that jazz. Certainly not uneventful.
"I'm very happy with the spirit, ambition and attitude. The first half was in the balance, very tactical, but in the second half the speed went up. We conceded two goals and playing against Everton, who are a very good, modern team, you have your feelings. Going 2-0 down was a tremendous setback."
"But I was pleased with the attitude to come back to 2-2. We got another setback at the end of the game, 2-3, which made it difficult, but in the last minute we got a goal. Of course I'm not happy with goals conceded but I'm very happy with the attitude and ambition of the team, and at least we equalised."
"Everton are a good team and given the fact we were down it's a point gained I think."
[...]
"It's frustrating because we want to dominate and control games but Everton are one of the smartest teams in the Premier League with the way they play, it's very difficult. Of course it's disappointing to go 2-0 down but again I want to emphasise the reaction of the team and that's good for us to go on for the rest of the season."
-Guus Hiddink; source: Chelsea FC