Port Vale 1-1 Accrington Stanley – Valiants robbed of a vital win by a simply awful referee
Vale fans disappointed by the erratic refereeing on Saturday must have been tearing their hair out on Tuesday night as Ben Speedie produced arguably the worst display of officiating ever seen at Vale Park.
This fan has suffered the likes of Vic Callow in the eighties and Trevor Kettle’s antics in recent years, but in 42 years of support I have not seen a worst display than that of Speedie. If he were to be awarded points out of ten I’d say zero would be too generous.
As for the game itself… the first-half was largely a non-event between two poor sides. Accrington at least had the excuse of an extensive injury list for their gamesmanship and time wasting but what was Mr Speedie’s excuse for constantly getting decisions wrong and being pedantic to the point of distraction? He became the centre of attention and disrupted the flow of the game as a result.
As for the game itself, the first-half could best be summed up by Gavin Massey shanking the ball yards wide when found unmarked in the box. Yes, it was that bad.
The second period at least began with Vale applying some pressure before Accrington were awarded a penalty when Ojo fouled in the box. The spot-kick wasduly dispatched past Stevens but the Valiants didn’t let their heads drop and were level within five minutes.
A Dan Jones’ long-throw found Conlon and his shot was blocked by the keeper only for David Worrall to pounce on the ball and his deflected effort found the net to make it 1-1 on 56 minutes.
It could and should have led to a Vale victory only for Darrell Clarke’s side to be denied by one of the worst decisions ever seen at Vale Park. A scramble in the Accrington box saw Rodgers handle the ball on the line but after Nathan Smith headed the ball in anyway, the goal was disallowed for Rodgers to be dismissed and a penalty awarded. Any other referee would have seen that a goal to Vale was the correct decision and when Dan Butterworth’s weak penalty was saved it meant the score remained 1-1 and their were howls of abuse for Mr Speedie.
Speedie’s erratic officiating continued until the final whistle with countless decisions going the wrong way. Vale managed to keep their frustrations in check but just could not find a (second) winner. Dan Butterworth and David Worrall both came close in the dying moments but, perhaps as he’d always wanted, this game was overshadowed by Mr Ben Speedie, who has secured his place in Port Vale infamy.
Full-time: Port Vale 1-1 Accrington
Port Vale stats
Notes
It was a battle at times and once again I’d sing the praises of Nathan Smith, who in a parallel universe would have been Vale’s matchwinner. David Worrall was more involved in this game too and scored a vital goal. Jamie Proctor, while not match fit, battled away while I thought Tom Conlon led the Vale response to going a goal down and Ben Garrity looked more comfortable in a more advanced role. However, Mal Benning and Gavin Massey both had disappointing nights although Massey was playing out of position.
Team line-up
Stevens – Smith, Jones, Donnelly – Worrall, Conlon(Pett), Garrity, Ojo (Butterworth), Benning (Holden) – Massey, Proctor (Odubeko)
Subs not used – Stone, Forrester, Robinson
Stats
Vale bookings: Donnelly, Smith, Ojo, Benning
Vale goals: Worrall (56) and Smith(75) Hold on a minute… the ref did what???
Attendance: 4,729 (97 visitors)
Top image – Laragiddingsofficial, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons