REFEREE Shaun Procter-Green should warrant a small dedication in any Accrington Stanley acceptance speech when the famous old club get their hands on the Conference champions' trophy as now seems inevitable after a controversial 4-2 victory at York City.

The runaway leaders' form has faltered in recent weeks as the finishing line gets ever closer and, having been fortunate to reach the interval only trailing 2-1 on Saturday following a dominant first half display by their hosts, Accrington's anxiety looked set to intensify.

But then Mr Procter-Green intervened with two unfathomable second half decisions against an understandably aggrieved City which meant he had a bigger bearing on the final outcome of the game than any of the 27 players used by both sides.

First, the Gainsborough official awarded a penalty to Accrington for what has become the latest fashionable offence for all over-zealous referees.

Right-back Jamie Price was penalised for a deliberate handball when, standing one yard away, he attempted to block Gary Roberts' cross.

There was confusion as to whether the ball had even struck Price's hand and not his mouth but that argument seemed irrelevant and perhaps referees, or their governors, need to consider what their natural reaction would be if a person blasts a ball at their face from point-blank range.

David Brown converted the resulting spot-kick and, after Accrington forged ahead on 69 minutes, Procter-Green made his second aberration.

This time, he failed to award a penalty when Andy Bishop was blatantly shoved off balance by Peter Cavanagh as he waited to head home Darren Dunning's cross.

To rub salt into the wounds, Accrington broke up the other end to add a fourth goal on 71 minutes when Ian Craney's curling 15-yard effort beat Chris Porter, leaving the visitors celebrating a final scoreline that was as flattering as a Gossard Wonderbra.

The Lincolnshire referee proved sub-standard when required to make vital decisions.

Prior to being on the receiving end of his errors, Billy McEwan's men had acquitted themselves excellently against their table-topping visitors.

David McGurk, Emmanuel Panther and Nathan Peat had all threatened the Accrington goal during a bright start by the home team before Dunning's curling effort from a free kick, destined for the top corner, forced impressive visiting 'keeper Rob Elliot into a finger-tip save.

But the Minstermen forged ahead from the subsequent corner, Donaldson heading in off the underside of the crossbar from two yards.

Left-winger Roberts, who justified his reputation as one of the Conference's hottest properties with an impressive display, then went close with Accrington's first two goal attempts from 20 yards before Andy Bishop wasted a glorious opportunity to double City's advantage, firing straight at Elliot after he had accepted a Peat pass and cut inside Michael Welch.

Three minutes later, the visitors were level when Donaldson conceded possession on the half-way line, leading to Roberts delivering a dangerous cross that skimmed off Brown's head and found Mullin who, not for the first time this season, deceived Chris Porter with a miskicked effort.

Bishop made amends for his earlier wastefulness when Donaldson showed pace and persistence to reach a searching McGurk pass down the left flank and delivered a cross which City's leading scorer stuck out a boot to meet in front of the visitors' defence and, then with a second predatory touch, prodded the ball past Elliot.

But first half joy turned to second half fury when Price was penalised on 49 minutes and Brown sidefooted his penalty down the middle of the goal.

James Dudgeon's header was then deflected on to a post before Accrington went ahead with Mullin's second goal of the game. The Stanley striker headed in from four yards after outjumping Dudgeon and Porter to meet Roberts' corner.

A minute later, Cavanagh's penalty-box push on Andy Bishop went undetected and Craney's strike left City fans incredulous at the injustice.

The spirited home side refused to buckle, however, with Dunning and Dudgeon both going close before Donaldson was tripped by Philip Edwards and the Minstermen were awarded an overdue penalty in injury time.

Andy Bishop, though, was thwarted by an impressive save from Elliot, who dived low to his left to push the 21-goal striker's effort wide.

Match facts

York City 2 (Donaldson 22, A Bishop 41)

Accrington 4 (Mullin 35, 68, Brown pen 49, Craney 71)

City ratings: Key: 10 - Faultless; 9 - Outstanding; 8 - Excellent; 7 - Good; 6 - Average; 5 - Below par; 4 - Poor; 3 - Dud; 2 - Hopeless; 1 - Retire

Porter 6

Price 7

Dudgeon 7 (Hotte 75m)

McGurk 7

Peat 7

Convery 7

N Bishop 7 (Thomas 81)

Panther 7

Dunning 7 (O'Neill 77)

A Bishop 7

Donaldson 8

Subs (not used): Reid, Merris.

Star man: Donaldson - ran himself into the ground and proved a real handful for Accrington

Accrington Stanley: Robert Elliot, Peter Cavanagh, Michael Welch, Daniel Ventre, Philip Edwards, Andy Todd (Stephen Jagielka, 82), Romauld Boco, Gary Roberts, Paul Mullin, David Brown (Andrew Mangan, 59). Subs not used: Andrew Tretton, Daniel Alcock, Mark Boyd.

Yellow cards: Brown 54, Andy Bishop 71.

Referee: Shaun Procter-Green (Gainsborough) rating: crass errors of judgement.

Attendance: 3,912.

Weather watch: Spring-like at last.

Game breaker: Procter-Green's failure to spot the push on Andy Bishop in Accrington's six-yard box. The visitors went 4-2 ahead seconds later.

Match rating: High quality match that City controlled for long periods until the referee grabbed centre stage.

McEwan's verdict: "We made mistakes and got punished but there were a lot of positives because we gave them a good battle. It was a great game against the top side that we should not have lost."

Player watch: Jamie Price

Shots on target: 0

Shots off target: 0

Blocked shots: 0

Passes to own player: 15

Passes to opposition: 3

Crosses to own player: 1

Crosses to opposition: 1

Pass success rate: 80 per cent

Dribbles ball retained: 0

Dribbles ball lost: 0.

Headers: 10 Tackles: 2

Clearances, blocks and interceptions: 5

Free-kicks won: 0 Free-kicks conceded: 1 Offsides: 0

Yellow cards: 0

Final summary: Price was handed a difficult task on his first Conference start in four months when asked to contain Gary Roberts, arguably the Conference's finest player. He was restricted to defensive duties but he will have been expected to have made more than two tackles in 90 minutes. Comfortable in possession, the foul he conceded was the alleged deliberate handball for Accrington's penalty.

Updated: 11:09 Monday, March 27, 2006