Watching Cliff Portwood through dirty glass…
Long-serving Port Vale fan Stuart Dean recalls another memorable Port Vale match – this time a trip to Scunthorpe in 1960.
Stuart Dean writes…
I remember this match quite well. I went on a Poole’s Coachways bus from Alsagers Bank.
We had all four seasons on the journey to Scunthorpe. There were flooded roads and very heavy rain as we left the Potteries. This turned to snow and fog over the moors. By the time we got to the Old Show Ground it was cloudless skies and bright sunshine.
We were in a stand that only ran for part the length of the ground and were sat right at one end close up to the glass sides – which hadn’t been washed in a month of Sundays – we couldn’t see the goal that Vale were attacking.
Cliff Portwood scored the only goal of the match very early on. We saw him commence his run along the left wing but only knew he had scored by the reaction of the Vale supporters who sat with better views. We moved after that and stood at the back of the full stand.
I also remember listening to the football results on the coach on the way home. Crewe had drawn 2-2 at home to Tottenham Hotspur. They lost 13-2 at White Hart Lane the following week.
About Cliff Portwood
The striker joined Vale in 1959 for £750 and he helped the club to promotion in 1961. He was then transferred to Grimsby for £6,000 and 1961. He moved to Australia where he became a media celebrity and he sadly passed away in 2012.
This FA Cup match took place at the Old Show Ground on the 30th January 1960. It finished 1-0 to Port Vale with Portwood the scorer and here are some pages from the matchday programme: