North regain top spot ahead of Bels clash

North 5, Vale Rec 1

DOMINANT North cruised to the top of the Sure Mobile Priaulx League at a canter last night with a convincing victory over injury-ravaged derby rivals Vale Rec at Northfield. The chocolate-and-blues go into Friday's top-of-the-table clash with Bels three points ahead of Micky Ogier's side on level games.

'It was easy for us tonight,' admitted North coach Micky Le Prevost.

'I'm absolutely chuffed to bits for myself and the players that we are top of the league and we have started off the season so well and are playing better than we played last year.

'We are coming up to Christmas and to be three points ahead at this time of the season is superb. We deserve to be on top,' he said.

North face a tough few weeks ahead, though, with fixtures coming out of their ears.

'In the first half I thought we were sitting too deep but we scored some good goals second half. We let the ball do the work and all credit to the boys,' said Le Prevost.

It took just four minutes for North to capitalise as Jamie Ferbrache fired them in front from close range and many spectators predicted a rout against a young and inexperienced team.

Alex Le Prevost thought he had doubled the lead but his effort was cleared off the line by the covering James Coquelin.

At the other end Richard Davey made a fine stop low to his right to deny Marc Rihoy an equaliser.

Ferbrache made it 2-0 after 32 minutes after controlling a long ball, luckily pushing it past Jody Bisson before tucking it home. Coquelin was booked after nudging the goalscorer into the net.

Just before the break, Gavin Le Page's superbly struck left-footed 25-yard shot rebounded to safety off the crossbar to prevent North a third.

Midway through the second half Craig Young's fine header from Le Prevost's excellent cross looped over Bisson for 3-0 at the clubhouse end.

When Mark Brook upended Ferbrache inside the box, Le Prevost's powerful spot kick made it four.

An unmarked Le Page nodded in Glyn Dyer's corner near the end, before David Woodhead's volley from Mark Ramsden's short-taken corner lifted over Davey for a consolation.

'We have lots of injuries and are down to the bare bones and we had to play a couple of players who have niggling injuries,' admitted Vale's assistant coach, Martin Gaudion, who was forced to be one of the named substitutes.

'It's no excuse and North were far the better team, but our lads worked hard and you can't fault them for their work-rate.

'We could have played some of the other quality juniors, but had to leave them out because of school games later in the week.'

North's boss is now concentrating on Friday's eagerly awaited big match at Northfield.

'They are always big games against Bels and it's all about who performs best on the night.

'There is a long way to go and it's going to be an interesting season, but I'm very pleased with my players,' said Le Prevost.