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Found in Ryan Vintage in Manchester.
A Crewe Alexandra goalkeepers jersey. Beat that for an obscure find!
Gary Roberts goes down in the penalty area against Crewe Alex on Saturday.
After what happened last season with the controversy over penalties between Vale and Crewe it could have only ended one way this season. Vale secured their 2 - 1 win over the Trainspotters with a penalty won by former Crewe player Gary Roberts and converted by former Crewe loanee, Marc Richards.
The first goal came from a rare header from Super Louis Dodds, sporting his new haircut which no doubt helped for him to actually see the ball. The delievery came from a sublime cross from my MOTM, Doug Loft who ran his socks off all afternoon down the left wing.
Crewe’s goal came from a penalty of their own, won when Anthony Griffith bizarrely handled the ball in the area for no good reason for which he received his second yellow card.
The referee also deserves a special mention. I have never seen such a dismal display from an official. Saturday saw 14 fouls committed by Vale but only one committed against them (the winning penalty). Bizarre decisions were the order of the day as Marc Richards apparently committed a foul whilst having possession and being pushed in the back by a Crewe defender. The entire Paddock were on there feet at one point or another letting the bastard in black know exactly what they thought of him.
After the game, Micky Adams was less than gracious towards our local rivals in his post match interviews (not that any Vale fan was complaining). He was quoted as saying “It was a clear penalty. Dario said last year it was a clear penalty to them, so it was a stonewall penalty for us this year - everything evens itself, doesn’t it Dario?”
What a nice change to have local bragging rights and a manager and players so in tune with the fans.
Choo choo!
Tomorrow sees the visit of our near neighbours the Trainspotters, oops err, I mean the Railwaymen and the nearest thing we have to a local derby these days with Stoke having their unfortunately elongated moment in the sun. Crewe Alexandra come to Vale Park after an infamous penalty saw them turn over Adams’ mighty whites last season. A penalty awarded by a referee who, at the time, was stood in the centre circle whilst Gareth Owen’s expert tackle stopped a one-on-one by the Crewe striker, Clayton Donaldson, against Chris Martin. As expected, some Vale fans were less than happy with a large group coalescing around the away end waiting for the pitiful support from Crewe to emerge. What followed was handbags of the highest order between two sets of kids who needed to get home for their tea.
There was also a bit of strife between Vale’s manager Micky Adams and Crewe’s long serving helmsman, Dario Gradi. Gradi is now in his 27th season in charge of Crewe. 27 seasons in charge of the team who applied for re-election to the league the most times and 27 seasons of long, boring, breathy radio interviews. Gradi got into a spat with Adams over the aforementioned penalty. The Crewe boss claimed that, after watching a DVD of the tackle frame by frame, the referee did indeed give the correct decision and that they deserved the penalty despite the ref apologising to Adams after the match. How a manager finds the time to be watching DVDs of penalties that his team already won and converted is beyond me, especially one who was in charge of a side seeking a way into the League 2 playoffs. This warranted a classic Adam’s response with our Micky quoted as saying; “I’ll move on. But that’s Dario, isn’t it? He’s got too much time – I’ve got a life.”
Gradi, looking a bit like Robert de Niro with the plague.
So tomorrow sees quite a hyped up match already (well, as hyped up as a match against a team who bring less than a thousand fans can be) without the fact that Crewe have the best attack in the division who will hopefully struggle against Vale who have had the best defence. The unstoppable force meets the immovable object it would seem. However, as with any derby (and it is a derby) the form book for both teams goes out the window and no doubt we’ll have to endure an insipid 1 - 0 win to the Vale. And so there’s my prediction. Beating Crewe will be a major boost to the fans, the players and to our promotion campaign which seems to have stalled somewhat in the last month after the blistering start we made to the season. The biggest things counting against us are lack of width due to injuries (with Lewis Haldane out due to being bit by an insect in pre-season training) and that we often seem to freeze up in front of bigger crowds at Vale Park.
Let’s hope we can derail Crewe tomorrow.
The supposed trouble last season.
Highlight of the season #3
Selling out Gresty Road and putting Crewe in their place. A particular highlight for me was watching all the little rats behind the Crewe goal running at the Vale fans after they scored only to be met with men double their size and an offside flag.
Thank God someone finally put that senile old paedophile in his place. It feels great to have a manager who’s prepared to fight his corner.
With the distinct possibility that a Vale match might actually happen on Saturday here’s some highlights of the season’s first term.
The most deluded fans in football get a lesson from the Vale.
Crewe Alex 1 - 2 Port Vale
