Skip Graham saves Saints at the death

St Martin's 1, Vale Rec 1

A STUNNING free kick by Stuart Bisson was cancelled out by a last- minute goal from Kevin Graham as Vale Rec and St Martin's shared the points last night. In a dull affair at a windy Blanche Pierre Lane, the match sprung to life on the hour mark when the yellows' Bisson, connected with an absolute beauty of a strike from 30 yards out. The utility player will not score many better goals than that.

'It was one of those that when it left your foot you knew it was in,' said Bisson.

'It was nice. There was a bit of fight about who was going to take it, but I pulled rank over the younger lads and I thought I'd have a bit of that.'

But it all went to waste, when Saints captain Graham popped up at a corner with a close range header just before the final whistle to defeat Bisson's brother, Jody, in goal for Rec.

'To concede a goal from a set-piece in the 90th minute, you've got to be disappointed,' said Bisson, who could not resist ribbing his brother. 'It's a free header in the six-yard box and you normally expect the keeper to deal with it.'

The result sees Rec move above Sylvans to third place, but the westerners do have two games in hand.

Saints remain in fifth.

Rec coach Chris Hamon, a man known for his dry sense of humour, also looked on the funny side, but you could tell he was not happy about dropping two points.

'It was classic, good quality football from both teams, real entertaining stuff,' he said with a smile.

'It was hard for both teams and the wind made a difference. We're disappointed not to come away with the three points.

'We fell asleep at a corner in the 90th minute and it's 1-1. All of them in general worked hard and they are disappointed, as they felt they deserved the points.'

After a dire first half, the second was continuing in a similar vein until 15 minutes in when Rihoy and then James Coquelin both had strikes on the Saints goal that keeper Alex Hockey dealt with comfortably.

Then up stepped Bisson to unleash his thunderbolt free kick that nestled high up in the net to give the visitors the advantage.

'It was quality,' said Hamon.

'He's a good striker of the ball at set pieces. He was confident enough to take it so full credit to him. It was a great hit.'

But it was no surprise that Graham, who won everything in the air all match, put away a strong header when Jody Bisson came out at a corner and missed an attempted punch.

Referee Peter Davison blew his whistle for the last time shortly afterwards.

'If you're 1-0 down with five minutes to go you've got to be happy with the draw. It was windy and it was a bad game,' said the Saints skipper.

'It must have been awful to watch.'