[chucksabr]

Port Vale Win Thrilling Qualifying Match
on “Mad Dash” to Advance to EOI Cup Tie.

The Old Recreation Ground was hopping with excitement all during yesterday’s match, which served as the qualifier for the EOI Cup tie given the local Port Valiants and the visiting Walsallians had finished level in second place on the table with 78 wins each. Nearly 29,000 people streamed through the gate to witness the affair, the highest in the League’s regular season history, and the spectators were not disappointed. The game was a cracking affair from start to finish.

Swifts jumped into the lead immediately with three singles in the first innings for a run, and two singles and a walk for another in the second. Port Vale slugged a two and a three in the third for a return run, but took advantage of sloppy Walsall fielding and pitching to score three, on two singles, two errors and a wild pitch, and they entered the fifth with a four runs to two lead. Walsall answered straight away with a threebee, two singles and a scoring fly ball out to draw level at four runs.

The game continued on as such until the bottom of the seventh innings, with Port Vale made a lot of noise with a twobee and three singles but could scratch out only a single run. There might have been two runs but for the great young Port Vale second base man Franklin being run out at the home plate. This in itself would not spark additional comment except for the extremely forceful tag that Walsall catcher Bramald laid on Franklin’s jaw to record the run out, which led to a spirited altercation featuring Franklin and Bramald, but including nearly the entire squads of both clubs. Amazingly, even after ten minutes and several landed blows, not a single player was retired from the match the umpires, and play resumed with both line-ups intact, save four defensive substitutions made by Valiants in the service of protecting their newly acquired five runs to four lead.

This tactic failed as Knight hit a three with one out and scored on a fly out to the centre field to draw Walsall level at five runs. Runners for each club advanced to the third base in both the bottom of the eighth and top of the ninth without scoring. In the bottom of the ninth, Franklin struck again with a single after one man had made out. Jones walked to advance Frankiin to second, and Bardon’s single filled the bases. With Walsall pitcher Curley working as carefully as he could manage to the batsman Stewart, he let fly a pitch that bounced about twenty feet off Bramald’s shin guard. Franklin proceeded to run towards the home plate; Bramald recovered the ball and pegged a perfect throw to Curley covering, but Franklin slid in safely with the winning run. Shades of the famous “Mad Dash” by Vivian Sharp in the memorable 1887 BA Cup final victory of Derby County over Burnley were in evidence, and the crowd spilled onto the pitch to share their love with their heroes for having earned their fifth opportunity to win their first EOI Cup in club history.

Port Vale will face Crewe Alexandra in Crewe at two o'clock today.