We still live in a male chauvinist world and the opportunities for women to progress as referees are limited.

Here in Sussex, we've only three Class One female officials and I believe it's because many who take up courses don't want the hassle of handling men's matches.

Men do try and intimidate female referees or assistants when a decision is made against them. For my part, I just ignore them...sometimes even smile at their protests and show how childish they can sometimes be.

There have been times when I've given a throw and some members of the opposing team have collapsed to the ground in some kind of fit, thumping the pitch in anger.

I just tell them: "It's only a throw. Why don't you get up and continue the game?"

But on far too many occasions we hear about the negative side of being a referee and I'd like to talk about a wonderful day I had running the line at the Women's League Cup final between Arsenal and Croydon.

The match was played at Barnet's Underhill ground and, just to add a bit of pressure, the Sky Television cameras were out in force to cover the game live to the nation.

Before the match, I received a letter of congratulations from Wendy Toms, the only woman to have officiated in the Premiership, as a lineswoman.

Sky were precise with their coverage, from the introduction of the teams and the toss of the coin to the final whistle.

To be part of this match was an honour, but extremely nerve-racking. As you can imagine, the smallest mistake by any of the officials were open to scrutiny.

Arsenal were well on top and it was great to be officiating a match that included their top stars such as Rachel Yankee, Angela Banks and Marianne Spacey. Croydon had the likes of England goalkeeper Pauline Cope and Debbie Bampton among their ranks.

There was a terrific 30-yard screamer from Ciara Grant, an Irish international, to open the scoring for the Gunners to set the scene.

From my own performance, I'm my own worst critic, but did OK when you consider the importance of the game. Thankfully I didn't drop any clangers.

As an assistant referee, it's hard to disguise any mistakes, because you simply raise the flag and that's that.

My biggest decision was during the second half when referee Amy Rayner gave a free-kick to Arsenal for a foul she thought was outside the penalty area. The foul was clearly in the box and I flagged like mad to indicate this to the official.

So Amy took my word for it and awarded Arsenal a spot-kick, from which they scored.

It's nice that friends noticed me on the television. It was mentioned to me by a number of people a few weeks after at a time when I considered one of my performances at parks level a nightmare.

People forget refs are human - and we make mistakes - but it's nice when people can compliment us when we do have good games.

The score of the match was 4-1 to Arsenal. It was a forgettable match for the spectators - but not for me!