'He got man of the match on that save alone' (From Bucks Free Press)

'He got man of the match on that save alone'

8:00am Sunday 21st October 2012 in Sport By Andy Carswell

WANDERERS players and staff hailed a superb matchwinning save from Chris Neal as a turning point in their defeat against Port Vale.

The Valiants keeper made a jawdropping stop from Joel Grant’s curling strike that looked destined to loop into the top corner until Neal’s dramatic intervention.

Blues were 1-0 up at the time and Grant and caretaker boss Gareth Ainsworth both felt it would have been more or less game over had it not been for the athleticism of Neal, who was voted man of the match by the Vale matchday sponsors despite the Valiants running out 4-1 winners.

Ainsworth said: “I think he got man of the match on that save alone. It was an outstanding save. If that goes in we would have got a game on our hands.”

Grant opened the scoring at Portsmouth inside 13 seconds with a similarly struck shot and he thought this one was also destined for the back of the net.

The winger said: “I was more confident with this one than the Portsmouth one. I thought the goalkeeper couldn’t see it and as he was backpedalling I thought I had scored. Fair play to him, it’s a great save.”