Tom Pope accuses Stevenage of time wasting – “all their players knew what was going on”
Port Vale striker Tom Pope has said he’d “rather retire” than engage in Stevenage’s time wasting tactics.
The striker is clearly not a fan of the opposition adding that “if there’s one team I want to beat in this league it’s them.” However, his wish was not granted as Vale suffered a poor 4-1 home loss.
All of their players knew what was going on too – they were even saying to me that they don’t like doing it, but that’s what the management ask for…
Pope said the time wasting was orchestrated and commented to the official Port Vale website: “If there’s one team I want to beat in this league it’s them, but they’re going to go home with smiles on their faces.
“It’s key that you get the first goal and as soon as you concede, you know what’s coming. All of their players knew what was going on too – they were even saying to me that they don’t like doing it, but that’s what the management ask for.
“Fair play to them if they want to be a part of that, but I’d rather retire than do that. From our point of view, the lads know that we weren’t great defensively for any of their goals, and we always concede at silly times.
“The first goal was vital, but then when Cristian Montano gave us that lifeline we needed to keep Stevenage down there, but we ended up helping them up to make a mockery of us in the end.
“People will look at it and say that they were comfortable winners, but that wasn’t the case for large parts of the game. They had spells, but we were on top in the second-half, only to shoot ourselves in the foot.”