North 2, Sylvans 1

NORTH are almost there. The chocolate-and-blues need just two points to be crowned Priaulx League champions and, without meaning any disrespect to the opposition, the party is pencilled in for their next fixture at home to Rovers a week on Monday.

Last night’s victory over the only side to have beaten them in the league this season – and Sylvans have achieved that feat twice – was the signal for Mick Le Prevost to start breathing that little bit more easily.

‘I cannot fault these lads and hopefully now they will go on to win the league because they deserve it,’ said the North coach.

‘I am so proud of them all and I hope when we play Rovers on Monday 19 [of this month], we will do it.’

On a heavy pitch, it was a dramatic game yesterday at Northfield which turned on several key moments, the most important one being an excellent decision from Brent Blondel that came with two minutes remaining.

As early as the opening 20 seconds, Simon Tostevin had berated the referee for calling play back to penalise a Sylvans infringement on the edge of the area when the striker had gone on to stick the ball in the net.

Blondel must have heeded those words because in the 89th minute with the score at 1-1, he played the advantage after Dave Rihoy had been hacked down outside the box, allowing Tostevin to take the ball into the area where he was upended by Ben Duff.

Stuart Polson mishit the resultant penalty straight down the middle and Paul de Garis got his foot to it but could only watch as it trickled over the line.

‘He opened his foot up to put it to my left and then he totally scuffed it,’ said the bemused goalkeeper afterwards.

Just seconds before that, de Garis’ opposite number Richard Davey had made a wonderful save to deny Tom Duff at close range. It just goes to show a minute can be a long time in football.

Earlier, a fired-up Tostevin had given his side a third-minute lead with a trademark header from Simon Johns’ quality free kick.

Sylvans actually edged the first half in terms of possession, but North went closer to scoring through Rihoy’s screamer and a Lee Renouf header that clipped his own bar.

After the break, the westerners got the goal they deserved with 20 minutes remaining as Rihoy handled in the area and Matt Warren scored from the spot.

However, it proved to be merely a consolation.

‘I was pleased with the performance and I think we deserved the win,’ Le Prevost said.

‘We are creating chances and we are not scoring enough of them for my liking, but the effort was outstanding.

‘I said to them before the game: ﾓIt is all down to you now. You have done all the hard work up to now this season and it requires just one big effort tonightﾔ, and they all responded.’

Warren admitted that his side are now playing for second spot.

‘It was a bit harsh on the boys tonight,’ he said.

‘We were a bit slow to start, gave away needless free kicks and got punished from one, but for 43 minutes of the first half we played pretty well.

‘In the second half, again we did quite well and it was only a great save from Dicky [Davey] that stopped us going 2-1 up. But fair play to them, they went straight up the other end and scored. Sometimes that is how it goes.’