I agree.
The high kick was surprising. Difficult to see how close it was from my position and angle but but usually you would try to nip that sort of behaviour in the bud.
I think he tried too hard to keep the game flowing but sometimes a few quick free kicks are needed to let the players know where the tolerance level is set. A referee needs to sense early on when the games should be allowed to flow and when a touch on the brakes is needed. This judgement comes with experience but as the saying goes,
"Good judgment comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgment"