Rec mortally wounded

Vale Rec 0, North 1

JON VERON'S fine second-half strike gave North the Stranger Cup in a fractious Grand Fort Road derby last night. The circumstances in which the goal arose, however, made Vale Rec blood boil.

Through no fault of their own, the green-and-yellows were down to 10 men after Gavin Le Page caught Tony Manning in the forehead with a high boot. Immediately, the Vale Rec man headed for his dug-out with blood coming from the wound.

Having been shown a yellow card for persistent fouling just moments earlier, the North midfielder was walking a tightrope but somehow managed to stay on it as referee Mark Le Tissier took leniency on him and administered a talking to rather than issue the second caution that should have come according to Chris Hamon.

'It was a booking and, already having had a yellow, I do not think he should have taken any further part,' said the Rec coach.

As Manning was being treated on the sideline, North delivered the killer blow came that rubbed salt into the wounds.

A Le Page long diagonal ball found Veron on the left-hand corner of the penalty box. His first touch was perfect, getting the ball out from under his feet, and as Jody Bisson advanced, the striker slid it past his Guernsey teammate into the far corner.

Trim Morgan, for who this was the first piece of silverware as North coach, described the goal as 'fantastic'.

'He has been coming into some form and it was a tidy finish,' Morgan said.

On the incident from a couple of moments previously, he added: 'Gavin was trying to get the ball, his eyes were on the ball, the guy ducked his head - I do not think he did it on purpose.'

In fairness and in terms of attempts on target, North deserved victory.

Bisson showed himself to be in excellent form between the sticks for Rec as he made several fine saves, two in particular to deny Dave Rihoy.

At the other end, though, Steve Gibson was never tested, largely thanks to a solid defensive display from North in which Darren Martin, filling in for the absent Michael Wilson at centre back, excelled. He was rewarded with the man-of-the-match award.

'Darren was outstanding. He has got pace, touch, vision and can knock a pass. He bossed it,' said Morgan.

'Next to him, Stuart Polson worked hard and had his best game for a long time.'

Vale Rec, for whom James McColl impressed hugely once more, could have forced extra-time had Gareth Holden not sliced his volley wide at the death.

'The ball fell to Gareth 12 yards out and of all people we would want the ball to fall to, he would be the one. Unfortunately, he screwed his shot wide,' said Hamon.

'We had our opportunities to score and we did not score, so perhaps we did not deserve anything tonight.'