TAYLOR BLAST FOR REF AFTER KANU HEROICS
Vale’s late equaliser angers Exeter boss
EXETER boss Matt Taylor slammed referee Sebastian Stockbridge after his side conceded a 97th-minute equaliser to draw at Port Vale.
City, who are second in League Two behind leaders Lincoln, looked to have wrapped up three points after Nicky Law struck just after half-time at Vale Park.
However, Idris Kanu bundled home his first Vale goal and first professional strike to earn the hosts a dramatic point, deep into injury time.
Referee Stockbridge had originally signalled for five minutes of injury-time to be played, so the timing of Vale’s leveller angered the Grecians boss.
Taylor said: “I’m not too sure where you can get an extra two minutes when you put up five on the board, there certainly wasn’t an extra two minutes during those five minutes, not that I could have seen anyway.
“He has put his whistle to his mouth when the ball went out for a corner, if we’d have scored a winner they would have been as equally as frustrated, I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but I’m disappointed with the referee.
“I’m frustrated but I’m still proud of the boys. It was a good, resolute performance, and a performance full of character away from home at a tough place to go.”
In a tight fourth-tier contest, both sides traded early openings at goal on an autumnal afternoon in Staffordshire, with Vale keeper Scott Brown doing well to reach the ball before Jayden Stockley from Hiram Boateng’s cross, before Dean Moxey’s low daisy-cutter from the edge of the penalty area went just off target. Having soaked up initial pressure from their promotion-chasing visitors from Devon, Aspin’s side, buoyed by their away derby win at Crewe last week, grew into the contest.
Tom Pope saw his header well saved by goalkeeper Christy Pym, after Tom Conlon’s deep cross had made its way to the forward, before Miller tested the Exeter stopper, cutting onto his left only to see his effort held.
The lively Miller, who was linking up well with the industrious Pope, then engineered space for himself down Exeter’s left flank, charging towards the penalty area, only to mis-hit his left-footed effort, dragging his shot across goal and narrowly beyond the far post.
Pope then ghosted inside to meet Ben Whitfield’s teasing cross, but his header went just wide of the post.
Up the other end, a swift counter-attack down the right saw Boateng cut inside, but his drive was valiantly thwarted by the body of Nathan Smith.
With 10 minutes to go until the interval, Law spurned a great opening for Exeter, scooped his right-footed attempt from the left side of the penalty area a bit too high, before Jake Taylor’s dipping strike was deflected away for a corner. The hosts almost broke the deadlock with two minutes of the half remaining when Tom Con-
lon picked up possession 25 yards out from goal. The midfielder set his sights before unleashing a thumping strike which was hurtling towards the top-right corner, only to see Pym superbly tip onto the crossbar.
Exeter led within three minutes of the restart when Boateng picked out Law with a low cross from the right, as the former Bradford City midfielder showed composure to divert into the net. Having seen chances go close throughout the half, substitute Kanu saved the day for Vale when he bundled home a header in the seventh minute of injury time following on from a goal-mouth scramble, to earn a dramatic point.
Following the late drama, Aspin was proud of his players’ never-say-die attitude that earned them a point.
“You have to be happy with a point and if you look at the respective positions in the table, I thought we more than matched them and I’m more than pleased with the players’ attitude,” he said. “We’ve given them a really good game and the fact we’ve got players cramping up at the end shows how much effort we’ve put into this game. You have to give it maximum effort. If you can do that, it keeps the fans happy.”