Match Report: Port Vale 1-1 Coventry
Vale dominated Coventry City but had to wait until sub Sam Kelly’s late wonderstrike to take anything from their game on Sunday.
Manager Rob Page made one change with Byron Moore replacing the injured Louis Dodds.
The Valiants started strongly as they put visitors Coventry under early pressure and created chances for Purkiss, Robinson and Leitch-Smith. Vale continued their first-half domination and Leitch-Smith forced the Coventry keeper into two rapid saves on the half-hour mark.
Rob Page’s side were dealt a blow when Ryan Inniss was injured and Armstrong almost immediately skinned replacement Ryan McGivern but he wasted the away side’s first chance of the half. However, Coventry made no mistake minutes later when Murphy scored – completely against the play of a first-half that Vale had dominated.
Vale continued to press in the second-half, Leitch-Smith had a chance, then Coventry keeper Charles-Cook pulled off a fantastic save to deny Dickinson and Duffy’s header just blew wide.
Jak Alnwick was then called into action but it was still largely one-way traffic with Vale now creating corner after corner. From one of them, Byron Moore was denied as the Valiants continued to do everything but score.
However, they finally beat Charles-Cook with a special strike from sub Sam Kelly who hammered a shot home with ten minutes left. It was his third goal for the club. Frankly it was the least the Vale deserved as they only took a point from a game that they had dominated from start to finish.
Vale: Alnwick, Purkiss, Duffy, Inniss (McGivern), Dickinson, Grant, Foley, Moore (Kelly), Kennedy, Robinson (Hooper), Leitch-Smith
Subs: Boot, Campion, Brown, Yates
Attendance: 6,320 (1,604 away)