Whinging Westley moans about ‘prejudice’
Despite the fact that his side could arguably have been reduced to nine men on Saturday, Stevenage manager Graham Westley has launched an attack on “prejudiced” officials.
There is a prejudice in officialdom against our club and I’m sick to death of it…
Ben Chorley could have been dismissed for a foul on Jennison Myrie-Williams that gave Vale their penalty while Freeman could also have seen red for a poor challenge on Sam Johnson (plus some back-chatting after being booked).
Stevenage were eventually reduced to ten men when Doughty was given a second yellow for a poor challenge on Dickinson and it is interesting that Westley didn’t see fit to attack that decision.
After the match Westley moaned: “I’ve just been in to see the officials and one of the linesmen has said ‘we are aware of what’s going on’. I demand to know what he means by that. I need that question to be answered.
“I was staggered by some of the decisions out there and I’ve said to my players that the game has been decided by forces way beyond our control.
“There is a prejudice in officialdom against our club and I’m sick to death of it.
“I asked my players what Vale’s penalty was awarded for and none of them had a clue. I asked the referee afterwards and he said it was a shirt pull, but he didn’t even know who had done the pulling .
“When we played Peterborough recently they committed 17 fouls and we committed 16 fouls, yet we ended up with seven bookings and they had only two.
“I spoke to the head of referees about it and he looked at the DVD and said there should have been four yellows to each side. Something has to be done.”