The Sunday Times - UK (2022-05-29)

6 May 29, 2022The Sunday Times

Football Champions League

Port Vale’s Kian Harratt

celebrates scoring the first

goal on the way to a 3-0 win

Clarke

emotional

as Port

Vale go

back up

The Port Vale manager Darrell Clarke

dedicated promotion to Sky Bet

League One to his late

daughter after his side

defeated ten-man

Mansfield Town at

Wembley.

Clarke, 44, took time off after his

18-year-old daughter Ellie died in

February and will take a break with

family this week. He shed tears on

the touchline as Vale returned to the

third tier for the first time since 2017.

While his side will look forward to

games against Sheffield Wednesday

and Derby County next season,

Clarke, who started his playing

career with Mansfield, admitted he

found the occasion tough to deal

with. “I’ve worked so hard in the last

few days to control those emotions,

and then they all come out when we

were nearly there,” he said. “It’s

special for my eldest daughter that I

lost this year, and my family that has

gone through tough times. It’s no

different to other families so I don’t

want sympathy.

“I think she was up there kicking

every ball for me today, so I will

dedicate that to her.

“The group have been absolutely

outstanding, the staff and my players

to put in that performance in the

manner we did. We did a professional

job in the second half [when Vale

were already two goals ahead]. We

were superb.”

Mansfield had started strongly and

Vale were fortunate to escape when a

defensive mix-up after eight minutes

allowed Jamie Murphy a free header

but he could direct it only at the

goalkeeper Aidan Stone.

Vale took control and Kian Harratt

thought he had given his side the lead

but his 18th-minute effort hit a post. A

minute later the 19-year-old, on loan

from Huddersfield Town, did score

when, unmarked, he headed home

from close range for his fifth goal of

the season. Mansfield had little time

to recover and found themselves two

goals behind after 24 minutes. A

looping header from Ben Garrity

came off the crossbar but deflected

into the path of James Wilson, who

nodded in.

Mansfield’s hopes were all but

ended in the 35th minute when Oli

Hawkins tackled Wilson recklessly

and was dismissed for a second

bookable offence.

The closest Mansfield came was

shortly before half-time when Rhys

Oates saw Connor Hall clear his effort

off the line. It was as much as Vale

had to deal with from their

opponents and they capped an

impressive performance with a third

goal late on when Mal Benning

connected with a David Worrall cross.

Nigel Clough, the Mansfield

manager, was disappointed with the

display of his team. “It’s fine margins.

We missed some good chances early

on to go one up,” he said.

“They punished us, and going

down to ten men was the icing on the

cake. I was hoping that the

experience in the side would be able

to cope but I don’t think we did

ourselves justice.”

Star man James Wilson (Port Vale)

Mansfield Town (4-3-3): N Bishop 6 — E Hewitt 5,

O Hawkins 4, J Perch 5, S McLaughlin 4 — J-J

O’Toole 5, M Longstaff 5 (G Maris 65min, 4), S

Quinn 5 (L Akins 79) — J Murphy 5 (G Lapslie 54,

5), R Oates 6, J Bowery 5. Booked Hewitt, Perch.

Sent off Hawkins (35).

Port Vale (3-4-1-2): A Stone 6 — J Gibbons 7, N

Smith 7, C Hall 6 — D Worrall 7 (A Martin 86), T Pett

7, J Taylor 7 (H Charsley 66, 6), M Benning 7 — B

Garrity 7 — J Wilson 8, K Harratt 7 (J Proctor 76, 6)

Referee J Gillett.

Robert Dunford

MANSFIELD TOWN

0

PORT VALE

Harratt 20, Wilson 24, Benning 85 3

Grimsby Town reached the

Vanarama National League play-

off final thanks to a 5-4 extra-time

win away to Wrexham. Luke

Waterfall scored the winner in the

119th minute to end a grim week

for the north Wales side, who lost

to Bromley in the FA Trophy final

last weekend. In front of their film-

star co-owners, Ryan Reynolds

and Rob McElhenney, Wrexham

went in front through a Paul Mullin

penalty. Grimsby soon equalised

and the lead changed hands three

times until the dramatic winner.

GRIMSBY REACH FINAL

WITH 5-4 VICTORY

LEAGUE TWO

PLAY-OFF FINAL

Real Madrid

fans last night

were keen to

remind Paris

Saint-Germain

forward Kylian

Mbappé, who

last weekend

rejected a

move to their

club, that he

had no

Champions

League

winners’

medal, right

LIVERPOOL V REAL MADRID MATCH ZONE

David Baddiel

@Baddiel Not sure

how much of

Michael [Owen], Rio

[Ferdinand] and

Steven [Gerrard]

being told to fill I

can take.

Cesc Fàbregas

Soler @cesc4

official Not a big fan

of individual

trophies like that but

surely the Ballon

d’Or could/should

be decided tonight?

Mané? Salah?

Benzema?

John Bishop

@JohnBishop100

At the gate in Paris

— been here for 25

minutes and

nobody has been

allowed in -—

disgraceful.

WHAT THEY WERE TWEETING

Last

night

was the

57th

appearance of the

season for

Liverpool’s Jordan

Henderson, the

most of any player

for a club in

Europe’s big five

leagues in all

competitions

57

Trent

Alexander-

Arnold is the

youngest

player to start

three Champions

League finals (23

years 233 days)

3

EUROPEAN CUP WINS BY COUNTRY

Real Madrid stretched Spain's lead at

the top as the competition's most

successful country

Spain 19

England 14

Italy 12

Germany 8

Holland 6

Portugal 4

France 1

Romania 1

Scotland 1

Yugoslavia 1

Thirteen Liverpool

supporters travelled to

France in a speedboat.

Some had to take the

novel mode of

transport after their

4am flight yesterday

from John Lennon

Airport was cancelled.

They flew to Jersey,

met up with other

Liverpool fans, and

hired the speedboat,

despite none having

tickets for the game.

SPEEDBOAT

TO THE FINAL

Multiple European Cup and

Champions League winners

KINGS OF EUROPE

Winning British managers

in European Cup

Bob Paisley

Liverpool (1977, 1978, 1981)

Sir Alex Ferguson

Man Utd (1999, 2008)

Brian Clough

Nottm Forest (1979, 1980)

Jock Stein

Celtic (1967)

Joe Fagan

Liverpool (1984)

Sir Matt Busby

Man Utd (1968)

Tony B ar ton

Aston Villa (1982)

3 2 2 1 1 1 1

Borussia Dortmund (1997)

Marseille (1993)

Red Star Belgrade (1991)

PSV Eindhoven (1988)

Steaua Bucharest (1986)

Hamburg (1983)

Aston Villa (1982)

Feyenoord (1970)

Celtic (1967)

One-off winners

2

0

2

0

B

a

y

er

n

(^) M
u
n
ic
h
20
12
1
9
87
1
9
8
0
(^1986)
1964
1
9
7
4
2
2
3
4
5
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1966
1998
2000
2002
2014
2016
2017
2018
2022
Real Madrid
AC
(^) M
ila
(^200) n
2 7
(^00)
1 3
(^994)
(^199)
1 0
(^98)
1 9
(^96)
1 9
(^96)
3
Li
ve
rp
o
o
l
(^19)
(^78)
1
(^98)
1
(^19)
8
4
2
(^00)
5
(^20)
(^19)
1
(^97)
7
1
9
7
5
2
0
0
1
1
9
7
6
2
0
1
3
20
1
5
B
ar
ce
lo
n
a
20
0
9
2
0
1
1
2
0
0
6
19
9
2
19
73
19
71
19
72
2010
1965
(^2008)
(^199)
9
(^19)
(^62)
(^19)
(^61)
1
9
8
5
1
9
9
6
1
9
7
9
2
00
4
P
or
to
20
C 21
he
lsea
N
F
o
re
st
19
95
Aj
ax
Man
(^) Utd Inter Mila
n
Be
nf
ic
a
Ju
v
en
tu
s
2
2
2
6
(^147)
6
3
Sir Kenny Dalglish,
left, lays a wreath
before kick-off last
night in memory
of the 39 fans who
lost their lives at
Heysel Stadium in
Belgium before
the 1985 final.
Today is the 37th
anniversary of the
disaster
Real Madrid
are the first
team to field
a starting XI
for a Champions
League final with
as many as four
players having
made 100-plus
appearances in
the competition
(Benzema, Kroos,
Modric and Alaba)
4
Sadio Mané
is the first
player to hit
the
woodwork in two
Champions
League finals
since Opta began
detailed data
collection (2003-
04), each time
against Real
Madrid
2
WINNING MANAGER BY COUNTRY
Italy have provided the competition's
most successful managers
Italy 12
Spain 10
Germany 10
England 7
Holland 5
Argentina 4
Scotland 4
France 3
Portugal 3
Romania 3
Austria 2
Hungary 2
Belgium 1
Yugoslavia 1