Shades of 1966 but not the result Saints wanted

St Martin's 0, Vale Rec 1

WHERE was the Russian linesman when St Martin's needed him? Having been behind from as early as the second minute, the home side raised the intensity of their game in the last quarter-of-an-hour as Vale Rec tired at Blanche Pierre Lane last night.

Then, as the match entered stoppage time, Jody Bisson miscued his punch as he attempted to clear a Saints corner. The ball was cleared off the line only for Liam Davey to head the rebound back towards goal.

His effort ricocheted off the underside of the crossbar and down onto the line before being hooked away.

The striker immediately appealed for a goal but Ian Le Prevost's flag stayed down. The general consensus was that it was the correct decision and Rec were certainly thankful for it.

Chris Hamon's side had been the better side in the first half and could have gone into the break with more than the one goal advantage.

The lead had come from a well-worked move that saw Danny Bisson, who was playing his first game of the season having not trained so far this campaign, flick on Malcolm Symons' long free-kick to David MacNab, who was flying down the left-wing.

His cross was excellent and was attacked by Mark Ogier at the far post. The diminutive Vale man certainly got a piece of the ball, whether it was the final touch was hard to tell, but he was definitely claiming it as the net bulged.

During the remainder of the half, Nathan Pattimore had to make a fine save to keep out James McColl's effort and the keeper also had to get down sharply to stop James Coquelin's shot after initailly being unsighted.

Anything of note created by Saints came through Dominic Heaume.

One particular piece of individual magic saw the number 10 leave three defenders on their backsides and Jody Bisson motionless as his shot from the edge of the box hit the foot of the post.

There was little created for 30 minutes after the turnaround, but then real urgency crept into Saints' game.

Bisson made a strong parry to deny Craig Farnham after an incisive move involving Heaume and Ollie Smith and the goalkeeper also did well to narrow the angle after Heaume exquisite back flick had put Etienne Ogier through on goal.

Then came the Davey chance and there was still time for Smith to unleash a piledriver, which was deflected over.

'We had enough chances to win it, but I do not think we deserved it,' said St Martin's head coach Colin Fallaize.

'In the end, I do not think Rec were that much better than us, but they got something and held onto it.'

Chris Hamon revealed that Vale have altered their training practices in the last couple of weeks and it was already paying dividends.

'In the first half I thought that was the liveliest we had played all season. We took our goal well and we had enough chances to score more.

'Saints worked very hard in the second half and we ran out of steam a little bit, but it was nice to see us come off the park blowing hard because it shows the boys have put the effort in.

'It is a good platform for us to work from,' Hamon said.