Five thoughts after Port Vale’s stunning win at Bolton Wanderers

Ended in style… Rob Fielding says there are plenty of positives after an excellent away win for Port Vale.

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Losing streak ended in style

Well, that’s one way to end a losing streak isn’t it. It was a bizarre experience watching that game because it was almost like a different Vale side from the one in recent weeks was playing. The whole side played well. The front three were tireless. The midfield energetic and creative. The defence was both a goal threat and (a few late lapses aside) pretty solid. Whatever happened to make the team play like that, please keep it and do it again!

Montano stakes claim for leading role

The debate about Cristian Montano’s best position seems to go on and on. But for me, he’s far better deployed further up the pitch than playing at left-back. Up top, there’s obviously no worries about his occasional defensive lapses and his creation and goal threat are real plusses. Even though Vale have plenty of choices on the flanks, I would start with Monty at the moment because I thought he looked the best player on the pitch on Saturday.

Two glimpses of potential

I felt there were two players on Saturday who gave a real glimpse of what they could do. Firstly, Devante Rodney put on a much more threatening display in the centre than he did the previous Saturday. He may not have scored but he had a hand in other players’ goals, won a penalty and caused the Bolton defence all sorts of problems. We’re likely to have to be patient with him as he needs to add consistency to this game but he looked a decent prospect on Saturday. The other potential plus is one that comes with our fingers (and everything else crossed).  We saw what a fit Manny Oyeleke can offer the Vale midfield with his energy and goal threat. It’s clearly come about thanks to a run of games which has helped him gain match fitness. I suspect all Port Vale fans are praying his injury woes are now behind him.

You can score goals with 4-3-3

Get it right with the player selection, attitude and application and you can score goals with John Askey’s favoured 4-3-3 formation. If Saturday was anything to go by you can score loads of them. We had both centre-backs, both wingers and two of the central midfielders on the mark. In fact the only thing the performance missed was a goal by the centre-forward. That aside, it was a hugely promising display and shows that Vale can both win away and be a real goal threat with their preferred formation.

A word of praise for unsung full-backs

With all the talent at Vale Park, it’s fair to say that Zak Mills and David Fitzpatrick probably wouldn’t be people’s first-choice full-backs. However, both did their chances of starting the next League game the power of good with their performances. Mills had a period where he was under real pressure but that was arguably because he was exposed by team mates not covered. But once that was over he did a fine job supporting attacks. The same can be said of David Fitzpatrick. He may lack a bit of pace but he did a fine job supporting and providing an outlet for Cristian Montano. They may not have caught the attention in such an eye catching performance but both of them did a fine job.