When Jimmy Ryan fired in Accrington's second goal of the afternoon today to pretty much end Notts' hopes of maintaining their unbeaten home record, there was no sign of the chaotic and disgraceful scenes that were to plague the end of Notts' worst performance on home soil this campaign. For once we're not going to concentrate on the failings of our own side though and look at the unbelievable behaviour from a visiting side who probably deserved their win, but will have lost a lot of respect from those in Nottingham in the way they went about it.
I'd quite like to have a look at a video of the last half an hour and see just how much time the ball spent in play and how long it spent in the arms of a Stanley player as they waited to take a throw in. Or how long it spent left while an Accrington player nursed an injury that they managed to pick up simply by being on the pitch. Time wasting seems to be part of the game now, but how the referee allowed the visitors to get away with it to such an unbelievable extent beggars belief. Mind you, these are the same group of officials who managed to give Lee Hughes offside from a goal kick.
Oh and they were the same officials who managed to give a penalty for the most blatant dive seen at Meadow Lane in a very long time. Even more so than the Exeter player last season who managed to fall over his own shoelaces. Thankfully justice intervened and the tanned chap who'd spent an afternoon trying to start a fight with people missed, but the principle remains the same. To go down without an opposition player within a couple of yards and get a penalty makes a mockery of the game.
Then there's the manager's antics on the touchline and attempts to run away with the ball and start a fight with anyone who attempted to get it back. NCM may sound a bit bitter about today's defeat, but it's not the result - Stanley fully deserved to take three points back up north. It's just a shame they did it in a such a despicable and unfair manner and thus managed to lose the respect of an awful lot of people. Normally we'd wish an opposition side with the most passionate fans seen at the Lane in a while who escaped with a deserved three points good luck, but not this time. Oh and if we happen to be winning at the Crown Ground next year I hope we're not hurrying over too many throw ins...