Port Vale 1-1 Oldham Athletic
Rob Page’s forward substitution paid dividends for the second game in a row as sub Uche Ikpeazu earned Vale a point against Oldham.
Maanger Page made three changes to his starting eleven. Louis Dodds had picked up an injury and was replaced by Enoch Andoh, Remie Streete replaced injured centre-half Ryan Inniss while Colin Daniel was preferred to Uche Ikpeazu.
Vale started strongly and a succession of corners led to calls for a penalty. However, opponents Oldham were defending in numbers and Vale were unable to convert any of a number of half-chances.
The visitors made Vale pay for those missed chances as they scored from a free header on 35 with Higdon beating a helpless Alnwick. Higdon could even have made it 2-0 before the break but he was unable to get to the rebound when Alnwick couldn’t hold on to a shot.
Vale therefore went into the break a goal down and no doubt ruing their inability to convert their possession into goals.
It was much the same story in the second period with Vale bringing on Uche Ikpeazu and for the second game in a row, Vale’s forward substitution paid dividends as the big striker scored his fifth of the season on 70 minutes.
That goal sparked Vale into life in the closing stages but despite the ball being cleared off the line in injury-time it ended all-square.
Vale: Alnwick, Purkiss, Duffy, Streete, Dickinson, Grant, Foley, Moore, Leitch-Smith (Ikpeazu), Andoh, Daniel
Subs: Johnson, McGivern, Birchall, Hooper, Lloyd, Brown