The aftermath of our match with Port Vale seems to have taken a negative twist, with bad feeling surrounding the furore that kicked off after Husbands’ sending off for his challenge on James Perch. On the one side you have Vale protesting it wasn’t a red card offence, which should be easily determined by video evidence – but the referee was close by and didn’t hesitate, and it looked nasty from where I was – plus strikers are hardly renowned for their ability to go in for tackles well, are they?
On our side we have the defence of Perch – who I must say doesn’t strike me as the kind of player to play act. From picking up knocks playing football myself, I know full well that adrenaline can mask just how much pain you’re in for a considerable time when you’re ‘fired up’ – it could easily account for him getting up to remonstrate with Husbands before having to take the weight of his leg again…
The reaction of sections of the Port Vale fans was allegedly so bad that Neil Harris ended up getting the joy of a random Stoke denizen spitting in his face – which is wholly disgusting, and should certainly be punished. But all this detracts from a fine second half Forest performance, and one we should be focusing on to take into our game with Swansea City on saturday, and if we thought the Vale fans were dominated by small-minded chavs then wait ’til our Welsh ‘friends’ arrive!
The result of all this is that Forest are apparently making a formal complaint to the football league about the standard of stewarding at Vale Park which enabled sections of the home support to behave in a threatening manner to the coaching staff and substitutes. Should make the visit of Port Vale at the City Ground
Filed under: Thoughts
