Former Valiants round-up
Here’s one of our occasional features looking at the fortunes of former Vale players. This time, we look at how a number of former players fared on the opening day of the season.
League One
Billy Knott played 71 minutes of Bradford’s 3-2 win over Coventry City while Jennison Myrie-Williams (right) was subbed after 64 minutes of Scunthorpe’s 3-1 defeat to Swindon Town.
Former Vale skipper Doug Loft played the whole 90 minutes as Gillingham were defeated 4-2 by Milton Keynes.
Gavin Tomlin was an unused sub for Crawley while Jordan Hugill failed to make the Preston matchday squad.
Midfielder Sam Morsy played the entire 90 minutes while former Vale youth teamer Charlie Raglan made the bench as the Spireites defeated Leyton Orient.
League Two
Tuesday night’s opponents Hartlepool United, included former Vale skipper Sam Collins (right) in their defence as they lost 1-0 to Stevenage.
Winger Kaid Mohamed, loaned out by the Valiants, scored the winner as Northampton (who also included Lee Collins and Marc Richards) beat Mansfield 1-0. Mansfield included former Valiants Ritchie Sutton and Rob Taylor in their line-up.
Another former Vale winger, Sean Rigg, scored as AFC Wimbledon drew 2-2 with Shrewsbury – for whom a third former Vale winger, Ashley Vincent, was on the bench.
York City drew 1-1 with Tranmere with two former Valiants in their central defence. Scorer Keith Lowe and John McCombe were paired together. By contrast, home side Tranmere had two former Valiants on the bench – Abdulai Bell-Baggie making a late subs appearance but Clayton McDonald remained an unused sub.
Billy Paynter failed to score on his debut as Carlisle lost to Luton.
Non-League
Lee Hughes (right) scored the winner as Forest Green defeated Martin Foyle‘s Southport, for whom Daniel Lloyd-Weston lined up in goal.
Another former Valiant, Louis Briscoe, was on target for Torquay in their 3-1 defeat to Gateshead.
George Pilkington played in central defence for Macclesfield as they defeated Braintree 1-0.
Matt Glennon lined-up in goal and Paul Marshall came on as a sub as Neil Aspin‘s FC Halifax beat Dover.
Two former Vale midfielders lined-up against each other at the Deva Stadium with Kingsley James playing for the home side and Sam Togwell in action for Barnet. The Bees ran out comprehensive 5-0 winners.
Former development squad member Ben Jefford played for Welling Utd as they drew with Telford.
Lee Sinnott‘s Altrincham started with a 3-1 defeat to Aldershot. James Lawrie and Simon Richman both started the game with Kyle Perry on the bench.
Note: this is not a comprehensive list of all former Valiants in action. Please feel free to add any we’ve missed via the comments section at the bottom of the article.