Page 37 - Raynes Park Vale v VCD Athletic TEST

way of chances and a further period
of ill-tempered challenges led to a se-
ries of free-kicks that did nothing to
alter the game until a challenge from
Nathan Lewis on Fisher’s Michael
Sarpong that was certainly careless
but, inevitably, made worse by the
speed of the playing surface, saw the
Vale player sent off. A wholly unnec-
essary altercation stemming, proba-
bly, from Fisher’s frustration, boiled
over when Fisher's Lennart Hein
impetuously threw Louie Downey
to the floor and gave the referee no
option to but to present the defender
with a second yellow thus granting
Fisher the shortest of player-number
advantages.
Fisher continued to pressure the
Vale goal but, despite their efforts,
the RPV line held and with five min-
utes of added time remaining the vis-
itors retained a tenacious grip on the
match with some clever play to kill
off the tie at 0-1.
Maybe not the prettiest win of the
day but one that was undoubtably
well-deserved. The new Vale boss
may not have been ecstatic at the
manner of a slightly ugly win (itself
a testament to his high standards and
ambition for the club) but, neverthe-
less, a win it was - and an important
one on a number of levels.

Goalscorer, Jordan Gallagher