LA Vale: 4 - Celtic: 0
Due to a heavy injury list and some players still out of town, LA Vale found themselves once more with the bare eleven... no, not the naked eleven, the bare eleven (easy girls!!) This promised to be a gruelling, physical game against some determined Celtic pride.Celtic's early pressure almost paid off twice, a powerful shot was parried and deflected as Adam in the Vale goal scurried to re-grasp the ball before it crossed the line. This had Celtic screaming for a goal, insisting that the ball had in fact crossed, but the referee saw it actually hadn't and play resumed. Three minutes later another Celtic shot grazed the outside of the post. Vale could breathe again and replied at the other end eight minutes later as Nick Emmerson found the back of the net, giving LA Vale a one nil lead. Celtic tried the quick counter-attack but Sean Saunders and Chris Edgar were too strong at the heart of the Vale defence to allow any serious threat to develop.
Twenty minutes into the game and the Vale are awarded another corner kick. Deano drills a low ball to the near post and Jamo makes no mistake as he steers it past Celtic's keeper. As Celtic attempt to claw themselves back into this game, Valliants Jezza, Boyley and Matty Hoffman fight to control the middle, leaving Celtic little room to create any real goal-scoring opportunities.
With the striking partnership of Dean Jacobs and Nick Emmerson working well together, Nick grabs his second goal after hustling the Celtic defence into a state of disarray and seizing the opportunity, giving Vale a comfortable 3-0 scoreline at half time.
With the second half underway Celtic showed their grit and refused to lie down. Creatively their ideas were no real danger to the Vale defence, or Adam in goal, as they tried shots from 30 yards out attempting to at least score a goal, but Adam was comfortably handling every attempt on goal. With unrelenting runs down both flanks from Boyley and Matt, the pressure was once more on the Celtic fullbacks. Dave Smith, playing with relentless determination, allowed Celtic no chance to settle on the ball. Playing with confidence, Matt Hoffman latched onto a bouncing pass, looked up to see the Celtic keeper off his line and cheekily looped his shot over a back-peddling goalie to score a fine goal and wrap up the game for the LA Vale.
One last game to play against Avanti on November 1st and one last game to play to win the LA Premier League. Let me hear you say it: "Come on the Vale!!!"
Words by Jamie Donovan.
