Re: Port Vale Match Thread.
 

Third In the table!

Re: Port Vale Match Thread.
 

2 wins, 2 clean sheets and joint top - Be careful what you wish for....... :D

Re: Port Vale Match Thread.
 

Cracking match even though it was like the Alamo for the last 20 minutes. Well deserved MOM for Bavs.

Re: Port Vale Match Thread.
 

Great nights action, 2 good sides, though how Vale finished wi 11 men,beats the hell outa me, Still the officials were consistent as they were crap fer both sides,:rolleyes: Thats 6Pts off 2 sides i reckon will be around come next May, so couldn't have asked fer more,well done again red men, only 44 games to go now.:D Think Gray will be a good asset.

Re: Port Vale Match Thread.
 

It was Dave, but we got the 3 points. Why did their keeper only get a yellow card in the penalty incident.

Re: Port Vale Match Thread.
 

Sheppard was going away from goal technically so not an obvious goalscoring opportunity. I thought it was a fair decision but I've seen red cards given for similar

Re: Port Vale Match Thread.
 

Have to agree wi you Dave, officials were consistently crap. Thought I was watching a rugby match or all in wrestling due to the amount of man-handling that was going on. Bav's deservedly MOM. Thoroughly enjoyable 110 mins! 2nd half seemed to go on for an eternity and the extra 5 mins was ridiculous. But 3 points is 3 points and joint top - what more can you wish for except to be in the same position or higher come May 2013.

PS if that wasn't a red card for the goalie, I don't know what is, yes he may technically have been going away from the goal, but had he rounded the keeper, he could have cut the ball back into the net quite easily. I also thought kicking the ball away warranted a yellow, but for some reason decided to give the PV player a rollocking. Some very strange decisions

PPS, bit disappointed crowd was not over 2000, lets hope on Saturday it's a fine day and we can crack 2,500

Re: Port Vale Match Thread.
 

According to BBC Radio Stoke, Stanley were 'there for the taking'! :rolleyes:

Re: Port Vale Match Thread.
 

To be honest, they missed two great chances in the last 10 minutes so I can understand that summary. It was rather frenetic in the last 30 minutes and it looked as though our inexperienced players weren't able to slow the game down and control possession, but that would understate our performance.

Across the pitch, we were excellent and particularly Bavs. PV are a good team and we more than matched them. Lots of positives last night, even without the score.

Re: Port Vale Match Thread.
 

I think PV will be there, or there about the playoffs come May. It was nailbiting time the last twenty minutes, but we matched them before that and we scored two goals to their nil. Bavs played the best I have seen him play and deserved MOM. Its seems strange to water the pitch after so much rain, but I know little about pitch maintenance anyway , and it looked in good condition. I am looking forward to Saturday ,but there may not be as many away fans, Devon is a long way. Congratulations to all at Stanley.

Re: Port Vale Match Thread.
 

Re: Port Vale Match Thread.
 

I couldn't understand the sprinkler system coming on. It rained really hard a couple of hours before. The pitch is looking really good though this season. Should make for some good football.

Re: Port Vale Match Thread.
 

Positives:-
Our three strikers have all scored after only 2 matches, the Podge/Karl partnership looks like it will pay dividends this season, and taking off Toto (precaution as he had been booked?) did nothing to weaken our resolute defence, in the middle of which Murphy was outstanding! Miller continues to impress, all the lads look fit, hungry and full of desire and we still had great options on the bench unused, as in Dawson, Clarke and Chippendale. Great to see Cooky, even at this early stage in the season, not afraid to ring the changes and get everyone involved, in sharp contrast to Coley's old failing of ignoring his subs. Dunbavin playing out of his skin.
Negatives:-
Dunbavin continually hoofing the ball away either straight into touch or onto the PV giant defenders heads, from where it came right back again when we were under intense pressure.
Shocking home crowd figure after Saturday. Mind you, it seems to be a Lancashire disease also affecting the Shrimps who surely deserved better than their gate last night after 2 thumping wins in cup and league. Rovers gate will be interesting tonight too!

Re: Port Vale Match Thread.
 

It was not a game for the football purists last night,but enjoyable!!.
When was the last time you saw a game were both teams more or less lined up 4-2-4 !!.
Players all over the park had a man,therefore you were forced into going long(both teams),which in turn created loads of goal mouth action.
Full credit to port vale who pinned us back in the second half,and with a little more composure may have done better.
Great watching a young inexperienced team giving it there all against a decent team.
Besides Bav,whos shot stopping was first class,two outstanding performances were Murphy(who kept touch tight against a good player)
and Hatfield,whos energy was unbelieveable.
I bet theres a few players who fell out of bed this morning,after the effort they have put in,2 games in 4 days at the start of the season is always tough.
PS,Big decision to take Toto off,but Eckersley fitted in perfectly and his time will surely come
PPS - Can we return to 4-2-3-1,dont think my blood pressure can take much more!!!

Re: Port Vale Match Thread.
 

Cracking performance for the first 60 minutes.

Dominated possession, created chances and the 3 centre backs took care of absolutely everything.

After the hour mark we sat back way too deep and when we did have possession we gave it away far too cheaply.

It is at times like that which Joyce - our captain and experienced head out there are the grand age of 25 needs to get everyone to calm down and just keep possession. We were winning there was no need to rush our attacks, we have the quality to keep the ball and that was the ideal time to do so but we panicked.

Good win but we were lucky to hold on for so long with giving them so much of the ball. Another day and it would have been 2-1 to Vale.