Jolly Unsporting, Old Chap

• Times (U.K.), Wednesday, December 10, 2008 2:45 PM

An English FA Cup second round game Tuesday between fourth-tier Chesterfield and non-league Droylesden "witnessed one the most bizarre passages of play in its 137-year history," according to The Times. With the score at 1-1 after 79 minutes, Droylesden put the ball out of play after an injury to its striker Carl Lamb. When Chesterfield threw the ball back in, instead of returning it to Droylesden as is custom, Chesterfield striker Jack Lester caught the opposition keeper unawares by lobbing the ball in from 30 yards. The goal sparked a huge row that held the game up for five minutes.

Chesterfield's manager Lee Richardson managed to defuse the fight by ordering his players to allow Droylesden's Steve Halford to walk the ball into an empty net from the restart. The game ended 2-2 and will go to a replay. "Chesterfield did the proper thing in the end," said Droylsden manager Dave Pace. "Lester says he didn't mean to do what he did. I'm not sure about that, but fair play to Lee Richardson because the right decision was made in the end."

Richardson said he didn't want to win the game in such a fashion. "I don't think it would have been right for us to go on and win the game with that goal because I think it's against the spirit of football," he said. "Droylsden were understandably upset by what happened so I made the decision to let them go down and score."

 

 

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