Stevenage manager Graham Westley makes ridiculous claim after defeat to Port Vale
After the hectic festive schedule Port Vale have had, you’d think the last thing that could be leveled at the side is that they are well rested – but the facts don’t seem to have stopped Graham Westley whingeing after his side’s defeat to the Valiants.
The game was far from a classic with Vale scraping a win thanks to a late Tom Pope penalty but Westley’s excuse that the Valiants haven’t had to play as much as Stevenage recently will be laughed at by most Vale fans.
Just in case Westley missed it, since Christmas Day Vale have played six games in seventeen days including three consecutive away fixtures.
Vale played Salford City on Tuesday evening ahead of their trip to Stevenage at the weekend – their third away game in a row – but these facts seems to have escaped Westley’s attention. He told the media:
“But there was always going to be an energy issue. When you play a side that has had a clear week and you have played so recently and put so much in, and you have had the travel, it is very difficult to recover within time.”
For the record Graham, here’s the two sides’ fixtures, so much for Vale’s “clear week”…
Port Vale
- 26/12 – Mansfield away
- 29/12 – Swindon home
- 1/1 – Macclesfield home
- 4/1 – Manchester City away
- 7/1 – Salford City away
- 11/1 – Stevenage away
SIX GAMES – FOUR AWAY
Stevenage
- 26/12 Forest Green – home
- 29/12 Plymouth – away
- 1/1 – Northampton – away
- 4/1 – Colchester – home
- 8/1 – Bristol Rovers – away
- 11/1 – Port Vale – home
SIX GAMES – THREE AWAY