Rec hold off Sylvans’ fightback as both claim title hopes alive
BOTH managers left St Peter’s on Saturday believing their clubs were still in title contention but it was the defending champions who came away with the points.
Vale Rec were deserved winners after playing the more dynamic football for well over an hour, with goals from Will Fazakerley and Seb Skillen setting them on the way to a comfortable 2-1 victory.
But a late, never-say-die Sylvans fightback came close to spiking their good run.
‘I thought our boys were excellent,’ said Rec coach Mark Romeril.
‘They dominated that game for, probably, 85 minutes. We had a game plan and I thought they executed it perfectly.’
The win kept his side level with St Martin’s at the top of the Priaulx League on 22 points. Saints have played three games fewer but Romeril believes an improbable defence is still within reach.
‘We needed nine wins out of nine and now we need seven wins out of seven,’ he said.
Sylvans head coach Jon Collenette accepted ‘we were off it in the first half and gave ourselves too much to do’ but he too remained optimistic about sustaining a title challenge.
‘We’ve now lost three and Vale Rec have lost three,’ he said.
‘I can’t see Saints going on an unbeaten run. There’s still absolutely everything to play for, so I’m not ruling out our chances yet.’
The visitors were unquestionably more lively in the first half, with Jacob Masterton-Pipet setting the tone from kick-off, sending an inviting ball into the area from the left flank, only for it to evade everybody.
Three minutes later, he repeated the dose and this time Fazakerley was able to bend his run out to the right of the area unchallenged, meeting the ball with power and poise to open the scoring with apparent ease.
The pressure was maintained as Marlon Jardim headed over the bar from a corner and shot narrowly wide from the edge of the area, while Fazakerley put a header just wide after meeting a cross from the right flank.
The lead remained stubbornly narrow, however, and when Skillen went down in the box under a challenge in the 23rd minute, referee Maged Elsadek waved away the penalty appeals and rewarded him with a yellow card for simulation.
Minutes later, a clever back-heel from Jardim presented Skillen with a shooting opportunity that brought the first of several athletic, diving saves from Nick Batiste.
Sylvans then went straight up the other end and so nearly produced an unlikely equaliser, as young Emerson Nobes, on his first start, raced through on goal from the right flank, unleashing a shot which struck the near post.
Elliott Tart then tested keeper Christian Povall, as Sylvans appeared to settle, but Batiste remained busier, with three saves denying Fazakerley in the space of five anxious minutes.
However, the last of these – a leaping dive to palm a curling shot around the post – led to the corner from which Rec doubled their lead.
With the big number 19 front-of-mind for the defence, Skillen was left with time to meet the low-struck corner with a solid volley and at 2-0 after 38 minutes, things looked bleak for the home side.
However, the teams were more evenly matched in the second period, with Collenette opting to play four at the back.
Tart produced a brace of testing shots, as Sylvans sought a way back in but they were saved again by Batiste as he pushed another Jardim effort behind off the post – Skillen heading against the woodwork again from the corner.
The Sylvans custodian also denied Louis Travis in a one-on-one, blocking a point-blank shot which ricocheted to Masterton-Pipet, who was also kept out by the stubborn Batiste.
This Vale Rec profligacy looked like it could haunt the visitors when, in the 88th minute, Tart sprung the offside trap and tried to take the ball round Povall’s left. His shot was parried but he was then able to lay it off to Tiago Rodrigues in a more central position, who scored.
The last few minutes brought more jeopardy than Romeril would have wanted or than most home supporters could have expected but a Sam Mahy header just wide was as close as Sylvans got to claiming a point.
‘They were too good for us in the end but we’re getting closer and closer to them,’ said Collenette.
In Saturday's other FNB Priaulx League games, Rovers and Northerners drew 2-2 while St Martin's beat Bels 5-0.
