Thetownend.com

Apparently, they’ve not been playing well lately.

Form table - they are 11th out of the 24

Apparently, they’ve not been playing well lately.

Suffered 3 injuries on Saturday including the goalkeeper.

Suffered 3 injuries on Saturday including the goalkeeper.

I read that as Rocky Balboa  :)

Reckon we’ll get a handy 2-0 win here. Davison and Egbo

Don't want to tempt fate but Sutton,going by our previous encounter are one of the worst top half teams I've seen this season

Am I the only one hoping for a play off final with Bristol Rovers?

I don't want them in the play offs as they will only give us 700-800 at their place and we will give them 2700ish

I don't want them in the play offs as they will only give us 700-800 at their place and we will give them 2700ish

Am I the only one hoping for a play off final with Bristol Rovers?

Am I the only one hoping for a play off final with Bristol Rovers?

It said Final, so should be good for at least 30k each.

Train ride home would be interesting  ;)

Train ride from Flash’s house,  certainly wouldn’t be from that shithole called Wembley.

Unless we are 100% guaranteed to win then I want nothing what so ever to do the play offs ever again.

I hear what you’re saying but the build up to the match and the atmosphere on the day would be fantastic. And when we do to them what Preston did to us in our last PO final it would be a match to remember for a lifetime.

Anyhow. Swindon 3- 0 against Sutton

Don't want to tempt fate but Sutton,going by our previous encounter are one of the worst top half teams I've seen this season

….and if they dicked us - it would be awful.

Always maintain the play offs are the best way to go from a fan perspective but they are such a gamble start to finish. The less glamours just finishing in the Autos is a lot less stressful

I know New Wembley has scarred us, but we went into both Millwall and Preston as underdogs. With a full squad I'd fancy our chances against Rovers, and that would be quite a game. But there's a very long way to go until May, and it's form going into the game that really counts.

bugger. didn't someone say they saw JOB with one of those boot things on after? so reckon you're right

No O’Brian, Payne or Egbo tomorrow all out three through injury.
Having no luck at the moment.

No O’Brian, Payne or Egbo tomorrow all out three through injury.
Having no luck at the moment.

Is that confirmed? I wouldn’t be surprised about JOB or Payne but Egbo looked as fit as a fiddle?

so did cooper when he finished his last game!

No O’Brian, Payne or Egbo tomorrow all out three through injury.
Having no luck at the moment.

Please tell me these are just knocks and not long term. Depleted doesn't cover it at the moment.

Bit sceptical about these pre-game injury updates on the MDT. Before the Oldham game didn't someone post something saying we would have no forward line? No real reason not to believe London Pride and will give the benefit of the doubt and if true our squad is going to be massively stretched!

Bit sceptical about these pre-game injury updates on the MDT. Before the Oldham game didn't someone post something saying we would have no forward line? No real reason not to believe London Pride and will give the benefit of the doubt and if true our squad is going to be massively stretched!

I think London Pride has been right about thing before, notably about KKH being recalled if I remember correctly.

Didn’t London Pride post something before (maybe about a loan recall KKH or Simpson or both) and no body believed him and it turned out to be true.

That was in the back of my mind actually that he didn't post much but had posted something ITK that did turn out to be accurate hence why I've not gone all in on him spouting shite :)

So if those players are missing, what on earth team are we going to field and who on earth is going to be on the bench? I hate to be 'that guy' but a centre back pairing of Conroy and Baudry against a physical, direct Sutton side doesn't fill me with confidence!

What connection would London Pride have with the club to source information?

What connection would London Pride have with the club to source information?

I doubt very much he would give away such sensitive information Jimmy :)

It would have to be, by default Hunt - Conroy - Baudry - Iandolo as a back four wouldn’t it?

He's in the Town End bar? Guest ale?

What players did we sign in 2017 and are still here? It's when London Pride started posting.  :sherlock:

What players did we sign in 2017 and are still here? It's when London Pride started posting.  :sherlock:

Interesting.....

https://suttonunited.proboards.com/thread/11796/swindon-away

So if those players are missing, what on earth team are we going to field and who on earth is going to be on the bench? I hate to be 'that guy' but a centre back pairing of Conroy and Baudry against a physical, direct Sutton side doesn't fill me with confidence!

I totally agree but it's ok BO, I'll be that guy:

'A centre back pairing of Conroy and Baudry would be football suicide.'

That way, everyone can rip into me now as we all know how the TEF works  ;)

Thanks, personal punchbag! :)

Same here Bob unless there's more detail it's hard to take it seriously as Garner is normally quite guarded in what he leta out to the media.

And he returns....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB1D9wWxd2w (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB1D9wWxd2w)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iooViITRp9M (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iooViITRp9M)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko0llmBIELI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko0llmBIELI)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gp_trV1gbk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gp_trV1gbk)

Garner’s being quite canny with Payne/Williams - rotating who starts and who comes on after 60 minutes. Aguiar seems to be a bit off the pace since his explosive start v Walsall - still moments of great skill, though.

I’m guessing here, but I presume hoof ball and hacking opponents go hand in hand as a game plan so hope to God we don’t pick up any more injuries tonight.

Be nice to have a sedate 2-0 with no dramas.

Jojo Wollacott, Akin Odimayo, Ellis Iandolo, Dion Conroy (C), Mathieu Baudry, Josh Davison, Harry McKirdy, Jonny Williams, Rob Hunt, Louis Reed, Ricky Aguiar

SUBS:
Lewis Ward, Jack Payne, Jayden Mitchell-Lawson, Mandela Egbo, Ryan East, Harry Parsons, Harrison Minturn

Good thing we got all those young athletic loan players in in January then. We've broken all but one of them.

Hope we got a money-back guarantee on those kids.  ::)

Sutton struggling with only 3 outfield players on the bench and a 40 year old in goal.

They make 4 changes to the team that started on Saturday in the defeat at Walsall with Lovatt, Ajiboyeat, Bugielat and ex Town winger Randall starting.

Their 4 subs are a real mixed bag.

23 year old untested keeper
18 year old striker
25 year old winger
41 year old striker

One of their subs - presume the 41 year old - is their fitness coach!

I was slightly worried about our line up (and subs) until I read the Swindon twitter feed when their team was announced. Their fans don’t seem happy with the Swindon team.

I'm making absolutely nothing of their supposed weakness

I follow put us as 5-3-2. Surely not?

Very cool to bury that.

Such a hilariously Sutton way to score.

That looked a mile off side from here

Unmarked header from a FK, easy goal.

It was never a free kick on Conroy to start with.

Watching the flight of the ball so all I saw was both men hit the deck

Let em back in. Too slow again.

Regardless of whether it was a free kick or offside or not, the defending was awful.

We need to pick up the pace

Absolutely it was.

Swindon are easily the better side. However another defensive lapse has cost us dearly. Hopefully Sutton will tire in the second half.

Really angry that we go in level. That was U11 officiating. Those Sutton players were consistently offside before, during and after the free-kick. How do you legislate for that level of incompetence?

We should have this, but you never know. Officials this poor actually have an effect on the players.

Swindon are easily the better side. However another defensive lapse has cost us dearly. Hopefully Sutton will tire in the second half.

Well, that evens up the offside goals!

I don't get the lying down behind the wall

Its to stop the low shot when the wall jumps, apparently.

Aguiar seems off the pace again for me today.

Time for Payne to come on for Aguiar for me.

Time for Payne to come on for Aguiar for me.

Agreed. But it will be Williams. Probably

Payne on for Aguiar.

Bald men thinking alike! 😂

It was a pretty obvious change TBH, not just us baldies :)

Iandolo gets these stupid yellows. Ridiculous one again.

He's not having a good game tonight

No, normally you get some great and some utterly shit from Iandolo in midfield, today its been pretty much all poor.

You're just not watching the game then

I think we need a cushion

This is what people criticise Conroy for. That the second time he’s played a blind hoof back over his head that’s put his teammates in trouble.

Positively, I've thought Wollacott has looked commanding in his area.

About our lowest league attendance of the season isn’t it?  Which is nice to say.

On a Sunday morning I'd only give this ref 40. Kin useless

Payne quiet as a church mouse

Payne quiet as a church mouse

Unfortunately hes pretty average for this seasons standard. Which TBF is shit.

McKirdy back defending wins the ball but Reed so close to giving it away again in our box.

Williams probably my MotM today.

Reed’s been oddly hot and cold tonight.

.

https://youtu.be/t3bjMtqpGBw

McKirdy MOM for me

Good result

it was a blatant dive.

Garner is gonna have to start both Payne and Williams now I think

McKirdy MOM for me unopposed. Good performances from Williams and Odimayo. Everybody else bang average

Harsh on Baudry and Wollacott.

Baudry my MOTM - thought he was brilliant.

Baudry my MOTM - thought he was brilliant.

Parkin:
- Ref was stern and yellow carded people early on
- It wasn't a penalty
- Reed thought there was going to be a collision. It was unfortunate that the keeper got a touch on the ball
- Reed was excellent in the first half. But not as good second half
- MotM: Probably go McKirdy. Felt there was a maturity about his game. His decision making seems to be improving. Picking the right pass and getting in the right positions. Constant threat and enjoyed watching him

Parkin:
- Ref was stern and yellow carded people early on
- It wasn't a penalty
- Reed thought there was going to be a collision. It was unfortunate that the keeper got a touch on the ball
- Reed was excellent in the first half. But not as good second half
- MotM: Probably go McKirdy. Felt there was a maturity about his game. His decision making seems to be improving. Picking the right pass and getting in the right positions. Constant threat and enjoyed watching him

Garner hoping Reed red will be rescinded!

Not sure yellow cards can be rescinded.
It wasn’t a straight red was it?

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/12567275/swindon-2-1-sutton-utd-league-two-highlights

Well that looks to me like the keeper didn't get a touch on the ball. Will rewatch on slo-mo on iFollow and see if it brings looks different. Reed wins it to take it beyond the Keeper and I'm looking at Reeds trailing/following leg and the Keeper's extended hand...it looks like the Keeper makes contact with Reeds trailing leg to me.

The difficulty here is that the camera angle is bang plumb almost with the time of the event. If it were at square leg, it would be much more conclusive!

In any case I think there are two things here meaning the ref should retract his decision. There is either contact from the Keeper with Reed's leg and therefore the ref should have awarded a penalty or it is reasonable to assume, with such momentum in that moment that Reed would anticipate contact from the Keeper - considering their relative positions at the time of the event and the ref should just allow play to continue.

It should be retracted but seeing how shite the ref was, he'll probably see no issue with his decision and will probably refuse to view any video evidence and is likely sipping his 8th Horlicks of the evening!

Watched it about 10 times and still 100% convinced all of Sutton’s players were offside on that free kick.
Reeds looks like a dive but McKirdy should have finished it first

Was level with the free kick.
Livid as 4 were offside as ball was delivered.

If Josh Davison could release the ball 2 seconds quicker he’d be a brilliant target man, he always seems to take an extra, unnecessary touch and lose the ball because of it.

To be fair it looks like McKirdy's goal was offside too, unless there is a player out of the picture - two wrong decisions on two of the goals cancelling each other out  ;D

My view of a still from the basic highlights is that the scorer of Sutton's goal was NOT offside but played fractionally onside (or at the very least level) by a retreating Davison.  Izzi (the leftermost Sutton player) got the better of some pushing and pulling to leave Baudry completely in his wake.  

Wouldn't call the well-placed lino's call a mistake.

The guy next to him was offside and may have been interfering with play but that may have been a harsh call.  I'm no expert on the laws.

https://imgur.com/zCLc6nQ (https://imgur.com/zCLc6nQ)

Said the exact same thing to a friend on the way home last night. Does the first bit really well, pins the centre half, but then frustratingly often turns back into trouble / takes extra touch, where he could release the ball and spin away.

He's extremely likeable though, incredible work-rate and does give us a bit of muscle through the middle. Very composed finish for the goal, where others would have snatched at it and missed. Fair play.

Davison's now got 4 goals in 12 starts, which is probably a fair reflection of the career he'll have in the bottom two tiers. Workhorse, benefitting others around him, and chipping in with 1 goal in 3 starts.

He’s behind Williams.

My view of a still from the basic highlights is that the scorer of Sutton's goal was NOT offside but played fractionally onside (or at the very least level) by a retreating Davison.  Izzi (the leftermost Sutton player) got the better of some pushing and pulling to leave Baudry completely in his wake. 

Wouldn't call the well-placed lino's call a mistake.

The guy next to him was offside and may have been interfering with play but that may have been a harsh call.  I'm no expert on the laws.

https://imgur.com/zCLc6nQ (https://imgur.com/zCLc6nQ)

I’m not sure, he looked level or slightly ahead on the replay

I’m not sure, he looked level or slightly ahead on the replay

That's interesting.
Two of them still look offside to me from that image.
Not sure what the ref is looking at, but shouldn't he be keeping an eye out for possible fouls ahead of the ball coming over.

Edit. Yes, the scorer may well have been onside from watching the highlights.
Not sure it was a foul on Baudry who looked to be wrong side to start with.

I don't think the pushing and pulling before the striking of a free kick is taken into account.  Baudry was correctly playing Izzy offside but for Davison's fractionally premature retreat.

In theory, the two Sutton players positioned offside at the time of the kick, may have interfered with play.  The one closest to Izzy ended up slightly colliding with Izzy and arguably blocked retreating Swindon defenders (eg the lightening quick Conroy) from challenging Izzy.

This requires a more knowledgeable analyst than me to consider but I'm not sure the Sutton goal was quite the level of  howler claimed.

https://imgur.com/zCLc6nQ

PS  See Tails above pointing out that No 26 in going for the ball IS interfering with play.

Not exactly sure where to start with that game. Listening to Hawes and the excellent Sam Parkin comms it appeared that Sutton had a team with square pegs in round holes including a 40 year old keeper, a 41 year old fitness coach on the bench and 4 wingers in midfield. Despite my misgivings about a Conroy and Baudry centre back partnership I felt we should have enough to be able to beat a patched up Sutton side. First 30 we played our usual open expansive possession game but in other games where we never really looked like scoring, it seemed we could get a hatful. Ironic really that Davison's goal came from a long ball (albeit aimed by Jojo, not just lumped anywhere) which was pathetically dealt with by Nelson, who shit his pants when he saw Davison and a neat finish by the big striker. After half an hour Sutton seemed to drag us down to their level and the game turned ugly. The officials started to make questionable decisions and the equaliser came when Conroy was wrestled to the ground which earned Sutton a free kick. (How?) Looking at the still, the player that scored looked to be on-side but the other 2 players running in were off and surely had to be 'interfering'?

Second half was ugly and seemed to last about an hour. Again a nice second goal thanks to a long ball to Williams, lovely touch and cross put in by McKirdy. After that the game was bitty and kept being broken up by fouls. The officials, who I always try not to mention never seemed to have a grip on the game at all. One incident saw Odimayo (I think) chopped down but somehow he gave Sutton a free kick but changed his mind when he saw everyone on our bench point out it was a free kick to us. Finally the clock ticked to 90 and McKirdy steamed away from his marker (again) who cynically fouled Harry, however he stayed on his feet, failed to dribble the ball around Nelson, the ball falling to Reed, who tried to dribble the ball around Nelson and then dive over his hand. It looked in real time a stone wall penalty but on the replay, I think the referee got it right. That said, I think he should have pulled it back for the foul on McKirdy and we should have got the penalty.

Other things to note - I thought Jojo seemed to come off his line more for corners than in previous matches. We've conceded some pathetic goals from 3,4,5 yards out but it looks like we've worked on this and Jojo came out and claimed the first corner which was definitely positive to see. Conroy and Baudry I thought did well against tough, aggressive opponents. There were a couple of incidents where both tried to be too clever, but luckily were not punished. Reed again showed he is the metronome in the team and is going to be greatly missed the next couple of games. Hopefully East can step up. Iandolo as someone else mentioned seemed to be wearing Toblerones on his feet, a few shanks from him. He is getting a bit of a nasty side to him as well, a blatant shirt pull to break up a dangerous attack as well as a couple of tireades verbally. Davison, apart from his goal I thought was crap again. When he gets the ball to feet he always looks like he is going to give it away, and never disappoints unfortunately. Last words to Harry, never stops running and their left back was on toast the whole game. Very well deserved goal.

We'd have been hugely disappointed not to have won last night, Sutton were pretty dire, Will Randall aside and so to get the 3 points, on a night where every other promotion rival won is crucial!

I’m not sure, he looked level or slightly ahead on the replay

Didn't realise at the time just how far Davison ran for his goal. Almost the length of the pitch.

https://twitter.com/dezined/status/1503824002820702213?s=20&t=LFTPqvDzq1H7NZVqqbuFYw

Quality co-comms from SSP

I was about to post the same. Sam was excellent last night. To give them credit they were also very knowledgeable about Sutton and the way they were setup etc. I know watching on Ifollow isn't the same as being there, but having these guys commentating does add a positive aspect. Some of the opposition comms barely know our players names at times.

I was about to post the same. Sam was excellent last night. To give them credit they were also very knowledgeable about Sutton and the way they were setup etc. I know watching on Ifollow isn't the same as being there, but having these guys commentating does add a positive aspect. Some of the opposition comms barely know our players names at times.

Said the exact same thing to a friend on the way home last night. Does the first bit really well, pins the centre half, but then frustratingly often turns back into trouble / takes extra touch, where he could release the ball and spin away.

He's extremely likeable though, incredible work-rate and does give us a bit of muscle through the middle. Very composed finish for the goal, where others would have snatched at it and missed. Fair play.

Davison's now got 4 goals in 12 starts, which is probably a fair reflection of the career he'll have in the bottom two tiers. Workhorse, benefitting others around him, and chipping in with 1 goal in 3 starts.

Was very surprised Davison was giving the sponsors man of the match.
Took his goal extremely well and his work rate was very good.

Don’t think he offered much else but I swear to god Refs seem so reluctant to give the fouls on him and I have no idea why?

It's 'funny' that now I know how you sound I read your posts in 'your voice!'.

I wanted to talk about Davison as well as he looks like he could be a very good target man and I do wonder if he is carrying an injury that is hampering his play. First the positives, he works bloody hard, every game. Took his goal nicely last night to steer the ball past the defenders on the line. Could very easily have pulled the ball past the post or whacked it straight at the defender. His actual touch can be very good, but more often than not he is quite careless with the ball at feet and last night seemed to take too long on the ball and not make right decisions to bring others into play. Simpson was very good at this when he had the ball under control. Finally there is a bit of a pattern emerging of Davison not getting any decisions at all when he appears to be fouled. It wasn't just last night but that's now a handful of referees that don't give him free kicks. This of course could be down to the poor standard of refs, or that he plays in such a way that it looks like he is manipulating situations to try and win free kicks. To me, it certainly seems that he gets man-handled by the opposition bruisers, but it's strange he doesn't seem to get awarded the protection he looks like he should get.

Sutton down to bare bones, big, physical but not IMO dirty. Battled well.
They are like a giant squad Afinkenwa......unbeatable with a soft ref.

With the side we had out I think we can be proud of the effort. 2 utterly disastrous shambolic goals conceded aside.

Swindon fans may have been worried about their team, but we surely had greater cause for concern. By my reckoning we had ten players missing this evening including all of our central midfield.

this was a proper team effort, with every player working his socks off.

Overall though, Swindon looked a less impressive side than they had at our place. They clearly have some talented players, but in the second half we saw the uglier side of their game as they resorted to fouling and time-wasting. Louis Reed was sent off in stoppage time, I think as the ref adjudged his tumble in the area to be simulation and showed him a second yellow.

A very brave performance tonight, actually undone by 2 basic errors on our part, although I am sure their second was offside?

talk about the ref who was so weak.

Can't say a bad word about us tonight. A threadbare team with a central midfield containing a striker and a player making his league debut after spending the season playing 2 levels below. Huge credit to both of those. And to the rest of the side. I feared a drubbing based on the Swindon we saw earlier in the season.

That Swindon seemed to have disappeared and really they ended up limping to a win.

Im pretty sure the winner was offside, certainly seemed that way watching on the live stream....2 goals in 3 days that should not have stood but have ultimately cost us the points.

Just watched the highlights. Seems the Swindon fans are a touch biased. Kizzi ran from behind his man so was onside. Others were off but weren't interfering with play. McKirdy (who I thought was excellent) was offside but they shouldn't have had the free kick in the first place as Omar was blatantly fouled before he fouled their player. As for the pen that was rather blatant. Not sure how that could be missed.

Another hard game.
With all the injuries we have .To put out a team last night was great.And to show another good shift.

The game itself was Another 12 v 11 as again the ref was so biased to Swindon.
Definitely a penalty turned down.( were do they find these officials)

We were looking at the footage of the McKirdy goal in the press box last night and we thought that while he was ahead of the defenders it was questionable whether he was ahead of the ball when it was played. It was certainly very close one way or the other.

McKirdy MOM for me too. Serious threat and looked best player on view.

Isn't the point that McKirdy was offside when the free kick was taken and then again ahead of the ball when he put it in. Initially I thought Williams was off but he was played on by Ben I think.

Regarding the Swindon Pen the keeper makes the initial save brilliantly to rob McKirdy and is still lying on the ground when Reed goes to go around him.  The keeper seems to make no movement of his arm as far as I can see - Reed falls over it and tries to get the penalty - hence the simulation. 

I am very cross that Swindon "out Suttoned Sutton" with their two long ball derived goals.  McKirdy has so much pace.  It's a crying shame that we haven't had a fit Tanto as he would have terrorised defences.

This was a fractious match not helped by yet another member of Mike Riley's ever growing list of incompetence he calls a referees panel. McKirdy and Williams are both fine players, possibly too good for this level but with that comes an appalling attitude on the pitch where any challenge on them is (for them) a foul.

As for the goals. There first was a bit of a disaster as their no 9, laughingly given MotM (see McKirdy and Williams above as the real contenders) was gifted the opener. U's fought back well though and Joe K continued his remarkable scoring run of late with a fine header. There may have been other players offside but he wasn't and under the current laws that 's what counts. Perhaps Garner and half of The County Ground should take note.

As for the late non-pen and subsequent red card, if there was any contact it looked minimal and not enough for their fella to go down like he did and that may have influenced the ref. But as I stated above, he was so terrible, who knows?

Robbed of a point, the lads, missing ten from the squad, richly deserved for dogged defensive work and tremendous hard work off and on the ball.

Another poor performance from the ref and it would appear the senior line. People pay good money to watch these matches; players work hard to get to this level and they are rewarded week in week out with Mike Riley's panel. It's a panel that needs blowing down in the wind (wouldn't need to be a strong gust) and totally replaced. Utter garbage Well done to the lads and Matt G et al. No points but shed loads of kudos.

As usual a few comments from the Sutton forum about last night, some fair some way off the mark.

As usual a few comments from the Sutton forum about last night, some fair some way off the mark.

I don’t think the ref was particularly biased one way or another.
Just completely inept at making the correct decisions.

I don’t think the ref was particularly biased one way or another.
Just completely inept at making the correct decisions.

still can't see how their scorer wasn't offside the moment the ball was kicked

Who'd be a ref eh? They get one split second look at it. The fact that people on here can't agree if goals, bookings, dives etc should have counted after looking at footage show how hard it is. Those potential offsides were tight last night. Very tight.

This is why we have ended up with VAR, and we were discussing last night which we would prefer, the  Officials making mistakes or VAR?

The main thing you can ask for from the ref & Lino’s is consistency.

Pause the youtube highlights on 38 seconds Batch. You can see that the 2 Sutton players in the 'middle' are ahead of the defensive line, but Kizzi is either level or just behind Davison. It's a shame because Baudry, Conroy, AK and Iandolo are in the perfect defensive position to play everyone offside. Had Bennett headed in then it would/should have been disallowed but unfortunately Kizzi got his head to it and therefore I believe it was a legal goal.

This is why we have ended up with VAR, and we were discussing last night which we would prefer, the  Officials making mistakes or VAR?

The main thing you can ask for from the ref & Lino’s is consistency.

You're never going to get consistency because of human error. Just the way it is. Even those using VAR are getting it wrong.

True.

But its even simple things like if one player kicks the ball away and is booked, so should another. The time on the clock or the score shouldn't matter.

Considering many peoples jobs and livlihoods are at risk from one decision obviously missed it does make me wonder about how is the best way to improve the standard of refereeing at our level.

Even at our level the difference between one bad call by the ref can cost a club over £1 million in revenue if it happens in a play off final etc.

I think we can count on the fingers of 1 hand easily the amount of half decent refs we have had this season and probably 80% wouldnt even be fit to ref at Sunday League level.

Wouldn’t the ref for a PO final be a top PL ref? The thrust of your comment still stands and I agree BTW.

Wouldn’t the ref for a PO final be a top PL ref?

No, don't think so.
The ref in a L2 PO final would probably be one of the better rated (across the season) L1 or L2 officials (National Group) or maybe a rising star from Select Group 2 (mainly Championship refs).