It was a well-contested match full of twists and turns with both sides enjoying spells on top at the Corbet Field.
In the first 10 minutes there had not been much action in terms of chances.
Two of the goalscorers, Tyrese Kelly for Rec and Kyle Smith for Sylvans, blazed efforts over the bar but neither goalkeeper had been properly tested.
In the 16th minute Rec won a free-kick, but was hit into Sylvans’ four-man wall by Kelly, and from that the visitors went on the counter attack with Jason Martin being called into action to push away a Sylvans effort.
On 20 minutes Tiago Rodrigues narrowly missed the crossbar as he volleyed Elliot Tart’s corner towards goal.
Minutes later Kelly fired in a shot from inside the area, but his effort curled round the far post.
Vale Rec enjoyed a good spell of pressure around the half-hour mark, with Kelly opening the scoring in the 33rd minute. Marlon Jardim set up the young Vale Rec forward to slot in.
Kelly doubled the hosts’ lead right at the end of the first-half, hitting the ball across Sylvans goalkeeper Joe Wright into the bottom corner.
On the hour mark Sylvans got back in the game as they were awarded a penalty after a foul from Martin. Smith stepped up to take the spot kick and buried it in the bottom corner sending Martin the other way.
Within minutes Smith equalised firing the ball into the roof of the net from close range.
With the two sides now level, the contest became increasingly feisty in the final 25 minutes.
Rec pushed for a winner and had a handful of good chances, one in the 75th minute from substitute Jack Sylvester who fired a shot in from just outside the area straight into the hands of Wright.
In the 82nd minute a good chance fell to Bertie Beddow whose effort from inside the area went well over the crossbar.
In the 86th minute Sylvester rolled the ball over the line scoring what you would have thought would be a late winner for Vale Rec, but with just one minute of the 90 still to be played Luke Ogier’s effort bounced down into the net off the underside of the crossbar.
Sylvans went close to claiming all three points but Smith’s close-range shot was clawed out by Martin.
TEAMS
Vale Rec: Martin, Wilcox, Patch, Larkin, O Regan, Gaudion, Skillen, Jardim, Torode, Beddow, Kelly. Subs: Le Huray, Sylvester, Phillips, Leadbeater, Rowe, Henriques, Le Poidevin.
Sylvans: Wright, Ravenscroft, Batiste, Bradshaw, S Gilman, Nobes, Rodrigues, Eyton-Jones, Smith, Z Gilman, Tart. Subs: Jones, Ogier, Jeffreys, Yeaman, Hynes.
