IT WAS a tale of twos at The Rec with Waldon Athletic scoring twice as well as having two players sent off en route to Herald Cup glory.

Both Waldon and Kingsteignton Athletic advanced through their semi-finals via penalty shootouts, overcoming East Allington United and Bovey Tracey 2nds respectively, and there was plenty of action from the spot once again.

A bumper crowd in excess of 500 people bunched around the pitch in Newton Abbot on the evening of Friday, May 2, creating an electric atmosphere which was reflected in the game. The early stages were frenetic with both sides displaying plenty of attacking intent.

Ellis Rattue, in the Kingsteignton goal, made a great stop to deny Jacob Knapman only for the Waldon forward to follow up, hammering home the opener after 15 minutes.

The first card of the game went the way of the Rams for a late challenge in the middle of the park and this certainly wasn’t going to be the last.

With the break nearing, one very half-hearted shout for a Kingsteignton penalty was quickly succeeded by one with much more vigour and referee Steve Pearce obliged on the latter, pointing to the spot.

Captain Kelsey Leech took on the responsibility, no stranger to The Rec having previously played for Newton Spurs. Waldon shot-stopper Kyle Doughty was level to the attempt, saving the initial effort before Leech headed the rebound over the crossbar. It was a real contrast of emotions in the immediate aftermath with Waldon players crowding the hero Doughty, just yards away from Leech down on his haunches.

If the temperature wasn’t hot enough on that Friday night, the man in the middle brought out a hotly contested red card to turn it up a notch or two.

Ashley Grimes didn’t appear to see the Kingsteignton player with whose head his high boot connected and so the general consensus around the ground was that a yellow would be fair, but Grimes was given his marching orders all the same, much to the dismay of all in Waldon colours.

Leech was then the second Kingsteignton player to be booked in a very heated affair and this was the final act of note in the first 45 minutes.

As was the case in the first half, Waldon added a goal and lost a man in the second.

The Rams enjoyed some early chances on Doughty’s goal but their number seven was unable to trouble him.

A seemingly innocuous moment resulted in a red card for Liam McKendrick with the Waldon man accused of biting an opponent- referee Pearce speaking to his linesman before brandishing a second red of the day.

As was to be expected, the Kingsteignton pressure continued to pile on but to no avail, with an effort from 70 yards causing their keeper a quick panic at the other end, only for it to bounce over the bar.

It went from bad to worse for Leech as he was teased into a challenge in the area and gave away a penalty this time. Goal scorer Knapman was the man for the big moment, coolly converting before sprinting to the Waldon bench for his celebration.

There were a couple more chances for Kingsteignton but it just wasn’t to be their day and the nine men of Waldon had the unity needed to hang on in there.

A pitch invasion followed the final whistle and Waldon Athletic were the worthy victors of this year’s Herald Cup, the 100th edition of the competition.