Vale in spot of bother as Sylvans keep the cup

Vale Rec. 1, Sylvans 1 (Sylvans win 4-3 on penalties)

LAST night's Stranger Cup final was a story of penalties. Sylvans defended the trophy, winning a shoot-out 4-3 after earlier hauling themselves back into the match with a penalty in normal time.

But Vale Rec. felt robbed after referee Mark Le Tissier turned down their appeal for a blatant penalty only two minutes after the green-and-yellows had gone one-up early in the second half.

Brent Blondel, who was sent off for a lunge at Martin Gauvain in stoppage time at the end of extra time, headed Vale into the lead in the 46th minute and Ray Blondel's side might have tied up the match 120 seconds later had Le Tissier pointed to the spot when Sylvans goalkeeper Ian Drillot hauled down Danny Bisson inside the box.

That was a much clearer penalty than the one he awarded to Sylvans in the 65th minute, when Jamie Blondel was adjudged to have fouled Matt Warren even though most observers could not decide whether Warren was pulled down or simply fell over the ball. Ryan Tippett hammered in the spot-kick.

'We couldn't have complained had he given them a penalty,' said Sylvans coach Richard Packman about the most contentious decision of the night.

Blondel called it a 'big decision' but refused to criticise the referee.

'When you're chasing teams who have been at the top for a while, you tend not to get those decisions,' said the Vale boss.

This titanic struggle was finally settled at nearly 10.30pm when Vale's Stuart Bisson and Mark Elliott had penalties saved by Drillot, the hero of the shoot-out along with Sylvans scorers Warren, Tippett, Gauvain and skipper Joel Avery.

That it went to penalties at all was surprising after the opening 20 minutes, during which injury-ravaged Vale barely managed to get out of their own half. Warren had a superb chance to chip the ball into an open goal after Jody Bisson had gone awol in the seventh minute, but Mark Elliott's excellent recovery header off the line prevented an early goal.

Tippett and Chris Chamberlain had good half-chances in the first 15 minutes as well, but Adie Exall squandered the red-and-whites' finest chance of their period of early dominance.

He got in behind Vale's back four and should have scored from eight yards out, but Jody Bisson saved brilliantly from point-blank range.

Vale gradually recovered from that poor start and they started the second half as the much stronger side.

A long cross from Elliott tempted Drillot to the edge of his area, but he was weak in the air and Blondel powered a header into the open goal before his father and coach had even managed to take his seat after half-time.

After being refused the clear penalty, Vale continued to pile on the pressure and Sylvans looked at sixes and sevens.

But after Warren's spot-kick, they regained control of the match and Tippett and Chamberlain both came close to winning it in normal time.

Extra-time was very even. The best chance fell to Danny Bisson, but he was denied by a brilliant last-ditch challenge from man-of-the-match Ian Potter.