there is too much `if we played better we could cancel out those bad refs decisions` in your post,
And there's too much "I'm happy to ignore how poorly we played in favour of lambasting a ref for giving a free kick 40 yards out in the 90th minute" in your post.
I don't know if you ever got to see Everton play in the '84 - '89 stretch, but I would like to see us return to that level of consistently good play. Week in, week out we should comfortably handle teams such as Norwich, Reading, Wigan, QPR, Fulham and Sunderland, but in recent weeks we've dropped points against all of the teams I've just named.
I hope the players are more ambitious than to be satisfied with getting a one goal lead, playing like poop from that point on and trusting that the ref will never make a mistake. Nor do I want to win games by playing no better than the opposition, but getting some arbitrary "fair share" of bad decisions in our favour. I have higher aspirations for this team and going by some of the other threads currently being discussed on this forum ( Moyes' questionable team selection; Moyes' in-game tactics; Poor performance by Howard / Heitinga / Pieenar / Jelavic ) it would seem that many others do too.
The ref didn't stop both of Baines' efforts yesterday.
He didn't force Osman to smash a half-volley into the ground rather than the net.
He didn't cause Naismith to make a pig's ear of what should have been a simple square ball for Jelavic to smash in from twelve yards.
He didn't launch the free kick into the box, he didn't stop Howard from challenging for the ball, he didn't leave Bassong unmarked either. But the way you and others like you are going on, you'd think the ref scored the goal himself.
Had someone cleared that ball off the line and we'd won, I hope you'd be level-headed enough to admit that we'd wasted plenty of chances but somehow defended just well enough to squeak a win - but if you think that's good enough, then you've forgotten this club's motto: Nil Satis Nisi Optimum.