Brooke Edgley Specialists Services Cup: Round One

An air of disappointment accompanied the Vale as they trooped off the field at Heywood Road after falling at the first hurdle of the BEST Cup at the end of a game that had seen the visitors aspirations compromised by injuries.

Vale had been in contention for an hour and only trailed by five points but as the number of injuries started to mount alarmingly their severely depleting a replacements bench that only contained two players from the outset. As a consequence players were forced to take up unfamiliar positions, with at least one hobbling back on to try to help the cause, a situation that gave Sale a distinct advantage as the Vale's endeavoured to cope with the nightmare of dwindling resources.

Two Sale converted tries were scored against a stretched Vale defence in the 62nd and 65th minutes respectively. A backs to the wall scenario developed for the visitors but they held out until the 77th minute when Sale's experienced right winger flashed over for a converted try.

In an extended period of extra time because of the toll of injuries Sale buffed up their total with two further converted tries that did not truly reflect the contribution made by the Vale before their ambitions were thwarted by the constant reshuffling of personnel.

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Vale had an excellent first half creating a number of scoring opportunities, and the pack compressing Sale in their own half for long periods. Unfortunately they were unable press home their attacks, plus a number of penalty kicks for goal were declined.

Centre Mike Barker posed a threat throughout but on the half hour the injury imp made its first appearance when prop Matt Field hobbled off and the Vale were forced to reconfigure their front row. Despite this set back the Vale remained very much in contention until the second minute of injury time when Sale scored an unconverted try.

In 46th minute of the second half stand off Sean Coulshed left the action with a damaged ankle as the catalogue of injuries increased. Ten minutes later Elliot Thomson, who was playing his first game for three months, snapped a hamstring as he raced away in full flight with the line at his mercy.

When Rob Ward departed on the hour Sale edged their way to a 19-0 lead but the Vale valiantly battled on, however, the home side always had the extra card to play and they were able to trump every Vale move.

On Saturday Vale return to Conference B action at Burnage hoping that the current raft of injuries will not hamper their battle for survival in the Bateman BMW Premier League.

Vale A: D Starkie; R Ward, J Antcliffe, M Barker, E Thomson; S Coulshed, O Dobson; M Field, S Harrison, T Smith; A Foxcroft (Capt), D Rainford; S Quick, J Clarkson, S Foy. Replacements: R Needham, D Harrison.

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