Vale pay a cruel price with penalty
Dave Ryce • Published 11 Mar 2011 09:30
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Vale of Leithen 0 v 1 Whitehill Welfare
It's a cruel way to lose when a game is decided by an injury time penalty; crueller still when it's at the end of a game when the losing side has been the more deserving of victory.
A combination of sloppy finishing and a goalkeeper at the top of his game conspired to see Whitehill perform a smash and grab right at the last.
The visitors best chance of scoring during open play occurred midway through the first half as John Hall lost possession to Ross Allum, who sped into the area and squared for Andrew Kidd, but Paul Greenhill got back to superbly clear off the line.
A good move by Vale saw some nice interplay between David Anderson and Andy Martin and ended with Radzynski shooting narrowly wide, but just
a minute later Vale were desperately unlucky not to find themselves in front.
A huge clearance by Darren Walker was met by Radzynski, who slipped the ball into the path of Anderson, whose shot was headed straight for the top corner until Bejaoui leapt to tip the ball behind brilliantly.
Early in the second half, Bejaoui again rescued his side as he blocked an Andy Martin shot with his legs, before producing his best save of the match on the hour mark as he dived full stretch to turn a Radzynski effort round the post.
There was further bad luck for Vale as keeper Walker had to leave the action after sustaining a hamstring injury.
The game ending in a scoreless draw wasn't an unreasonable prediction, but three minutes into injury time Whitehill were awarded a penalty when Greenhill went in high for ball at the edge of the area and caught Danny Taylor.
Scott Gormley made no mistake from the spot, sending substitute keeper Livie the wrong way with a cool finish.
There was further drama as Whitehill's Jordan Hall was sent packing after a lunge on Vale's Martin saw him pick up his second yellow.
Vale spent the rest of what was eventually seven minutes of injury time piling forward in a last desperate attempt to rescue a point, but to no avail.
Vale of Leithen: D. Walker (D. Livie 82); A. Milligan, J. Lauder, J. Hall, P. Lee, P. Greenhill, A. Martin, K. Dodds, S. Radzynski, D. Anderson, P. Doohan (S. Moffat 84).
This article appeared in Peeblesshire News 11 Mar 11
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