Crewe boss Lee Bell believes the stoppage-time bust-up that overshadowed his side’s 1-1 draw at Walsall was proof of the passion both clubs possess as they chase promotion.
Bell was booked after a mass scuffle that bizarrely saw Saddlers kitman Dave Joyce receive his marching orders from referee Stephen Parkinson.
On the pitch, the two moments of real quality in the game yielded both goals as Walsall’s Nathan Lowe flashed an 85th-minute equaliser off the post to cancel out Omar Bogle’s coolly-taken opener.
The draw meant both sides ended the day where they began in the table, with Walsall second and Crewe fifth, and Bell felt it was a fair result.
“In the end a draw for both teams was probably right,” Bell said. “Two really good teams, lots of honest players out there wanting to do as well as they can and it was a game I fully enjoyed.
“There was a bit of handbags. You are passionate on the sidelines but afterwards you shake hands and we’ll go and have a drink with them.
“Absolutely no problems. It’s a passionate game and people want to see passion. Both teams want to be successful this year and show their fans what it means.
“It was an absolutely nothing incident. If you blow your whistle a few times, everything settles down and no cards are brandished.
“We don’t want people pushing each other all the time on the sidelines but sometimes it’s a bit too nice – it was good to be involved in. I didn’t think at any point it ever went really overboard.”
Walsall boss Mat Sadler argued that Lowe had a first-half opener wrongly disallowed for a foul by the striker, and also felt referee Parkinson “lost control” of the game.
“We switched off for a moment and enabled the referee and his performance to affect us. From our side of things, that can’t happen,” said Sadler.
“That was frustrating for their one chance – one goal.
“The reaction to going behind, never knowing when we are beaten, it was a point gained in that sense.
“I think we all saw that the control to the game was lost. We had to overcome a lot today, I didn’t think we got any help. I thought it was really difficult for us at times to keep our cool.
“The atmosphere became hostile, sometimes not the players’ fault and that was probably what was disappointing.
“You just want that control and somebody to look after the guys out there, which we didn’t get, but the lads dug in and made sure they didn’t lose the game and that we got back into it.
“It was all allowed to happen because there wasn’t strong people looking after the game. It’s frustrating for Joycey but everyone is together and that’s a big thing.”
