Gary Speed's death puts the game into perspective

I was going to have a rant about another completely inept refereeing performance, I was going to say how Lee Probert had ruined a wonderful game of football, and although all of that is still true, the sad news of Gary Speed's premature departure from this world has put this weekend's game into perspective, writes West Brom blogger Jarrod Hill.

Mr Probert made a complete hash of officiating our game, and I couldn't wait to see Match of the Day so I could have a second look at some of the decisions he made. However someone at the BBC chose not to show the second bookable offence by Raniere Sandro and completely ignored the situation when Brad Friedel appeared to carry the ball over the goal line. They also failed to show a few of the other key decisions he made, so it was down to some internet searches to be able to take a second look. He must have a friend at the BBC because MOTD excluded some very important mistakes.

My conclusion after seeing some of those dodgy decisions again? Lee Probert must be completely inept and it's a shame that we are having to talk about the man in the middle when we should be waxing lyrical over a fantastic game.

I am not declaring we would have won the game had he not been wearing his Spurs goggles, but the problem is we will never know. What also frustrates me is that fans, players and managers have now way of doing anything about it. Untouchables and they know it, unless it happens to be against a Manchester United or a Chelsea nothing ever gets done about it, even the national media ignore it.

The shame is that the game was an absolute cracker. End-to-end, quality goals, skill, guts, and both teams went for the win. Roy Hodgson sent out an unchanged team and they started off where they had left off against Bolton the week before. Zoltan Gera was again pulling the strings in attack until he fell awkwardly and had to be replaced by Simon Cox. He helped set up the opening goal and was sorely missed after he went off. Shane Long also caused Tottenham all kinds of problems and we had enough chances even without Probert`s intervention to have gotten something from this game.

James Morrison played well and was my pick for man of the match and the rest of the lads certainly gave their all. If I had to be critical it would be that we just were not as clinical as our opposition and ultimately it cost us the game. But hey Tottenham have had many years in the Premier League and a considerable amount of money to get to where they are, and they do have a wonderful team.

If we can keep our level of performance as high as the last couple of games on a consistent basis we will have a fine season.

I know I said I wouldn't have a rant, but believe me if I had written this blog on Saturday night it would have been much worse. The sad news of Gary Speed's death yesterday certainly took the edge off my mood. I had never met him but everyone in football has always held him in such high regard, and not just as a player but as a person.

Unfortunately the manner of his death is something me and my partner have had experience of and our thoughts and love are with those that are left behind. I get so worked up over football and maybe I let it effect me far too much than I should, but I am yet to meet a football fan who doesn't. As I get older I am not too sure if I am getting better or worse, but life does have its own way of bringing us all back to the reality that football is a game that is their for us all to enjoy. Football is often referred to as being more important than life and death, as in the often misquoted Bill Shankly quote, but in truth it's not. Football is just something else we all live for, like our families, our friends, and in some cases our work.

RIP Gary Speed