Rec complete memorable four days

Vale Rec 1, St Martin's 0

CAN anybody hold onto a championship lead in this most unpredictable of seasons?

Leaders St Martin's were turned over at the Corbet Field and with Bels winning at St Peter's, Division One has its third different leader in a week.

The black-and-whites did not deserve any better than losing to a Lee Ogier strike after 32 minutes on a day when the prevailing conditions made it a torrid afternoon for the players on a pitch which by the end was cutting up badly.

Vale Rec were full value for the win and having beaten North 72 hours' earlier, inevitably a wag or two were suggesting the Priaulx Cup was on the way back to the Corbet Field.

But this is not a championship winning Vale side, more a young, hungry, work in progress, a team which will take some beating all winter on the evidence of the past week.

The backbone to this latest win, which lifts Vale up to fifth in the table, was the emerging defensive partnership of Neil Sarahs and Ross Elliott.

Ahead of them James Coquelin thrived in his arch-destroyer's role and everyone worked their socks off.