Match report: Yeovil 3-2 Port Vale

Nine man Port Vale came close to an extraordinary FA Cup upset thanks to two amazing efforts from Marcus Harness and Antony Kay but lost-out in extra-time.

Neil Aspin named an unchanged side after the 2-0 win over Cambridge at the weekend.

The home side had the opening chances before Whitfield had Vale’s first chance of the match. However, Yeovil forward Zoko had the clearest chance of the first-half as he broke clear but he put his shot wide of the goal. Minutes later, Vale’s Nathan Smith missed another good chance as he missed a free header.

However, the game burst into life in the last minute of the first-half when Yeovil won a penalty and Cristian Montano was dismissed for a professional foul. Yeovil’s Otis Khan made no mistake from the spot to put the home side ahead at the break. However, Vale were clearly furious at the red card when a penalty appeared to be sufficient punishment.

Port Vale’s cup hopes looked to have evaporated when the referee sent-off James Gibbons on 54 minutes. It sparked furious protests from the travelling Valiants fans as nine-man Vale now faced a seemingly impossible task.

But despite their two men advantage, Yeovil were unable to create any real clearcut chances as Vale held firm and even had the odd chance including an ambitious long-range effort from Tonge.

The Valiants took advantage of Yeovil’s profligacy as Marcus Harness scored his first-ever Vale goal with ten minutes left to put Vale back in it. It could have been even better for Vale as Tyrone Barnett went close to winning it.

The ref added five minutes of injury time with the home side pushing but Vale’s Valiant defence held firm to take the tie into extra-time. Under the new FA rules, Vale were allowed to make a fourth change in extra-time and brought on Billy Reeves for a tiring Tonge.

However, just moments after the change Khan scored his second of the night to put the home side ahead again. Yeovil also had another effort ruled out for offside.

In an extraordinary period, Vale equalised through a tremendous strike from Kay but as the away side were still celebrating that strike Yeovil retook the lead as Zoko’s effort beat Boot.

It proved to be a bridge too far for the Valiants who had played nearly an hour with a two man disadvantage, but what a performance the nine men had put up! If they can echo that form in the league then surely escaping the drop should be no trouble…