 During a 5–1 defeat to Plymouth Argyle at Vale Park on 18 October 2003, Lipa made a racist comment to Plymouth player Jason Bent.Lipa wrote a letter of apology to Bent and said "he wished he could turn the clock back", but was docked a week's wages.Bent accepted the apology as Lipa claimed to have spoke "in the heat of the moment" and the club also issued a statement of apology, stating Lipa "is in no way racist".