ONE of refereeing's greatest fallacies is the need for an early caution in order that the ref can impose both authority and control over the game.

Admittedly a necessary early yellow can have a sobering effect on exuberant players, but the inherent danger is obvious.

In striving to maintain consistency for the rest of the game it is easy to dish out a dozen cards to intellectually-challenged players who fail to heed the previous warning.

The more yellows, the greater the chance of reds and we have lopsided games which nobody really wants to see.

Last weekend I saw two examples of referees who refrained from the early cautions and in the process got it absolutely right.

Firstly my colleague Tony Leake nailing the theory that the only good thing to come out of Darwen is the A666.

His approach to the Burnley v Preston game was to skilfully differentiate between the ill-timed and the ill-tempered utilising the quiet word and a knowing smile. Sure he booked six players, but none of the guilty could have any argument about their fate.

Two days later our premier official Graham Poll presided over another derby given additional spice by virtue of it being a cp semi-final.

From the first kick he could be constantly witnessed talking to players to restrain their wilder excesses -- a claming rather than a carding influence.

The result in both cases were superb spectacles: hard-fought, but importantly, contested by numerically equal teams.

The average punter is blissfully unaware of the level of proactive man-management displayed by our top officials.

It is these finely-honed skills which sets them apart from the rest of us. In doing so they regularly pass the hardest test for all referees -- to take the minimum action to maintain maximum control.