Stevenage 2-1 Port Vale Match Report

Stevenage 2-1 Port Vale: Devante Rodney’s fine goal was to no avail as Port Vale slumped to a desperately poor away defeat to Stevenage on Tuesday evening.

Manager John Askey made four changes from the side which lost to Newport with Harry McKirdy handed the number ten role.

There was a delay early on due to an injury to Mitch Clark but Stevenage took advantage of the first meaningful chance of the game. Sloppy defending gifted the home side the ball and Oteh placed a cool shot past Scott Brown to give Stevenage the lead with ten minutes played.

It was a really poor half for the Valiants with no chances of note created and John Askey’s side second best. In contrast the home side put the Vale defence under pressure and also had claims for a penalty turned down. In the final moments of the half the home side could have doubled their lead but Newton missed an easy chance.

The Valiants made an early change on 53 minutes with Cullen replacing McKirdy, who had been quiet. However, straight after the change Newton beat the offside chance and beat Brown to make it 2-0 to the home side. On the hour mark it could have been three when Burgess stumbled and let in Newton but Brown made a fine save.

It was an awful, disjointed performance by the Valiants but there was hope late on when sub Devante Rodney cut inside and scored with ten minutes left. The goal spurred the Valiants into life, Robinson drew a decent save from the keeper and Rodney fired wide.

However, with only ten minutes left it was too late for the visitors to snatch an equaliser. To be fair to Stevenage, a draw would have been hard on them as they had been much the better team for eighty minutes and they held on for a deserved home win.

It ended in a hugely disappointing defeat for the Valiants, their fourth League loss in a row, as the pressure continues to mount on both the players and manager John Askey.

Full-time: Stevenage 2-1 Port Vale