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Chaos and fury over handball on goalline, goal ruled out, red card, missed pen at Port Vale v Accrington

There was chaos and fury over a handball on the goalline, a goal ruled out, a red card, and a missed pen at Port Vale v Accrington.

Lukas Jensen marked the occasion of his recall to the team with a 76th minute penalty save that earned 10-man Accrington a 1-1 draw at Port Vale.

The visitors seemed poised to capitalize on an anxious Vale performance. On loan from Brentford, Aaron Pressley scored the spot kick on 52 minutes.

David Worrall netted his first goal of this season five minutes later to make it level. The forward drove low into the corner, after Jensen had saved Tom Conlon from the initial attempt.

Ben Garrity stepped over after a Worrall delivery. Vale was clearly growing in confidence and the home team were given a chance to win when Harvey Rodgers threw another Garrity header onto a bar.

Jensen fell to his right to force out substitute Dan Butterworth’s penalty. Accrington held on to a point that elevates them one spot to 22nd.

Dane Jensen made his first appearance since the 8th of October. He was an unpopular hero for a home crowd that was annoyed by the goalkeeper’s stalling tactics.

During the first half, frustration reached the field when Ojo (and Nathan Smith) were quickly booked for late challenges.

One wayward attempt from Vale’s Gavin Massey suggested a lack of belief but Stamley mounted a strong finish following Rodgers’ dismissal and will wonder how they failed to secure a first home success in four games.

Port Vale boss Darrell Clarke fumed about the performance of referee Ben Speedie – but added his side also had to perform better.

He said, as per Stoke Sentinel: “It was one of those nights. I thought the fans were superb, they stuck with us all game, certainly after going a goal down. The character of the team was good.

“But we are frustrated. Frustrated and fuming are good words.

“I am being careful of my words. I choose my words very carefully but I just thought paying punters come to watch a game. Rightly so. They are slowing the game down but the referee has to control that. He has to control all aspects of the game but for me he lost control. It is a frustrating night.”

As for the disallowed goal, Clarke said: “Just give the goal., Give the goal. We scored a goal. The ball is in the back of the net, then he blows after the ball is in the back of the net which I don’t get, watching it back.

“But obviously we have to score the penalty as well Butterworth strikes it well but the keeper saves it. That can happen. But it is just a frustrating night.

“There’s not a lot to say about it. It is just one of those nights where we huffed and puffed on a difficult playing surface and we didn’t get the win we probably deserved.”

The manager said he’d try avoid seeing the referee after the match, but added: “They have to evaluate that performance and see if it was up to standard. See if he let the game flow. Did he do enough? If he is honest with himself he will probably look and go, ‘no I didn’t’.

“But we also have to be clinical. We had good chances in the first and second half. We have to be clinical in both boxes so it takes the game out of officials’ and other people’s hands.

“We have to be better, so we are certainly not taking away our responsibility. But the boys’ effort and endeavour was there to be seen, but we are missing that end product.”

Accrington manager John Coleman said: I thought the lads showed a lot of character. We worked hard, it wasn’t pretty, we were down to the bare bones.

“Lads have come in. Aaron Pickles making his league debut, Connor O’Brien coming on for his league debut. Seb Quirk making only his second start. Mo Sangare coming back after a long injury.

“So, it was all hands to the pump. I have to take my hat off to them, they defended really well.

“I am disappointed to take the lead and relinquish it. And they (Vale) came on strong, it was a bit unfortunate with the penalty for them I think. A second later, it is a goal. So, I think that is a little bit unfair on them.”

Coleman said the home support at Vale are influential, adding: “At times it was like coming to Mexico and trying to win a boxing match. It reminded me of going to Blyth Spartans actually, the crowd can have so much influence and the referee had to stand firm to that. The crowd got very animated over little things. Thankfully our players kept their heads.”

Coleman praised his side’s commitment, saying: “They were throwing their bodies in the way. Unfortunate with the goal. We feel it is a push but you either get them or you don’t. Lukas has made a good save and then it fell to Davie Worrall, one of our ex players, and it is a deflection that has beaten Lukas.

“He only made one mistake in the night and that was misjudging a long throw but then he has made up for it with an unbelievable penalty save.

“Then we withstood almost everything that they threw at us and he didn’t really have to make that many more saves. There were a lot of scrambles around the box and a lot of balls going over the bar but we defended really well.

“But it’s only a point, we are going to need more than that in the coming weeks. If you are going to get anyone sent off, please don’t be a centre half. Lo and behold we lose the one last recognised centre half that we have got in Harvey.

“When things happen like that, it keeps happening, but we just have to fight through it. I thought our fans were brilliant today, the players made a point of going over to acknowledge them before the game and I think that rallied them. They were brilliant all night.

“I think they will go home pleased. Although it is only a point, it feels like more because of the circumstances we have got it in.”

SEE MORE: Referees and linesmen slammed again as fans fume at controversy in weekend’s EFL matches

This is what fans said at the chaos and fury over handball on the goalline, a goal ruled out, a red card, and a missed pen at Port Vale v Accrington…

@blueygood: Headline: 95% of football referees haven’t got a scooby. What’s the point is assessing them, if they are just allowed to continue refereeing. Bet this guy is reffing again on Saturday.

@adamtweets85: By Law 5 of the game, this goal should’ve stood UNLESS the referee was whistle-happy and blew his whistle as soon as the defender handballed it.

@CW9_MCFC: Awful refereeing, a goal and a yellow card for the handball offence would of been adequate

@Wayne_B14: Did the referee not even think about playing the advantage? Absolutely sums up the state of refereeing in the game at the moment.

@boslembilly: That’s a goal

@claytonendbt: Crying Vale fans ✅

@Railwayman1995: I’ve always said a goal should always be awarded in this situation with the offender still receiving a red card. It makes so much more sense and would be a bigger deterrent than it is now.

@Steve_Taylor86: Probably not even his worst decision of the night either. What a shit show. Feel sorry for anyone that paid £24 to watch what was probably around 45-50 minutes of “football” may be being generous there aswell.

@ValiantKyle: Imagine the one time Dan Jones takes a long throw which we score from… it still doesn’t count #pvfc

@ColinEk11: Just give the goal for the love of god. 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️

@bradwellcommon: If this point for Accrington ends up sending us down… Doubly annoying as we also got done over at the weekend by the ref disallowing a goal by failing to play even a split second of advantage after a foul in the area (no sending off involved either)

@Perry_PFC: EFL refs in a nutshell #efl

@J_swfc1867: Joke referee

@Jordans_1995: Quite possibly the worst officiating I’ve ever seen, summed up by this 🤐

@Stu_Court: Good lord 😂😂😂😂

@rhys_scfc_: Why not just allow the goal?

@Josh_pvfc: Just your weekly dose of incompetent officiating in the @EFL. Why do we continue to pay to watch this 🤦‍♂️

@BenjaminGrocott: @FAspokesperson everyone’s watching. Get him gone

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