Match report: Port Vale 4-2 Man Utd XI
Rigino Cicilia scored his first goals for the club as Port Vale put a youthful Man Utd XI to the sword.
Bruno Ribeiro named trialist Jamar Loza on the bench while Man Utd included Tyler Blackett, Joe Riley and James Weir.
The Valiants had a bright start and ended their recent friendly goal drought when Man Utd scored an own-goal from Vale’s first corner of the game on 20 minutes. However, ten minutes later Man Utd equalised when El-Fitouri converted Weir’s cross.
Vale then went close through the impressive Nathan Smith before Vale were awarded a penalty after a handball and Rigino Cicilia converted to put Vale 2-1 up with his first goal for the club.
Vale brought on Remie Streete and trialist Loza for the second period and Loza showed some nice touches before setting up Sam Foley to put Vale 3-1 up on 50 minutes.
The Valiants then relied on a couple of sharp saves from Alnwick to prevent the visitors doubling their score before the home side made it 4-1 when Cicilia scored his second following up from Defreitas’ shot.
The final quarter of the game was played out without too much excitement although Vale fans did get a chance to get a first glimpse of new signing Nathan Ferguson.
The visitors got a consolation goal from the penalty spot with four minutes left but it was the Valiants who would be happier at the final whistle as they netted four goals and secured a valuable friendly win.
Vale: Alnwick, Purkiss, Knops, Smith, Mac-Intosch (Streete), Foley (Haughton), Grant, Pereira (Ferguson), Mbamba (Loza), Defreitas (Reeves), Cicilia (Forrester)
Subs: Kelly, Tavares, Turner, Lloyd, Boot, Amoros, Gibbons, Saleiro
Attendance: 2,444 (248 away)