A game that started 15 minutes late due to the hundreds of travelling supporters still queuing up outside could certainly be described as tasty and left, courtesy of referee Jones, plenty to talk about by both sets of fans.
The Cheshire based official dismissed one player from each side and then in the dying seconds appeared to change his mind in giving Dale a penalty and his decisions throughout were to say the least mystifying.
The first words though have to go to the travelling support who quickly filled the 2800 seats allocated to them and quite where the hundreds left outside at kick off were placed is anyones guess especially as the official away following was announced as 2783
Outside at 3.00pm
Inside at 3.00pm
There weren't too may chances in the game but in fairness the early ones fell to the home side with Tommy Lee doing well to deny Andy Bishop in a one on one in the 14th minute and then brilliantly well to produce a double save in a 20th minute goalmouth melee.
Immediately after it home keeper Jim Provett repeated the dose at the other end keeping out Gary Jones and then Chris Dagnall
The turning point came on 26 minutes when Elliott Bennett evaded Tom Kennedy before being tripped by Nathan Stanton. What should have been a yellow card was amazingly turned into a red with the referee given some help in his decision making by Bury's Paul Scott and Ben Futcher who both ran some distance to give their opinion. What happened to the rule about remonstrating with officials one has to ask?
Despite their numerical advantage Bury seemed content to hit Dale on the break and took the lead when Nicky Adams reacted first to an Andy Bishop flick and buried an angled drive past Lee from 12 yards.
Within 2 minutes a great Rene Howe run gave Dagnall the chance to equalise but he delayed his shot and was eventually denied again by Provett.
Referee Jones evened things up numerically when Rory McArdle and Ben Futcher had a little off the ball spat and the big Bury defender was given a second yellow card and shown the way to the tunnel.
In the dying seconds skipper Gary Jones burst into the box but having appeared to have lost the ball referee Jones first pointed for a free kick to the home side before immediately changing his mind and pointing to the spot. After the fairly understandable complaints died down Adam Le Fondre slotted home from the spot for his 17th goal of the season
Mr Jones work wasn't over even then as almost immediately afterwards Bury keeper Provett collided with his defender Sodje and as the ball ran loose Rene Howe turned it into the vacant net. Incredibly Mr Jones intervened to give a free kick in the home sides favour. Why?
Herefords win means that automatic promotion is not now an option but it is full steam ahead for Shrewsbury at home next weekend and the Play off semi finals in the following 2 weeks.
Be there.
