Forest Green Rovers 1-1 Port Vale match report
Forest Green Rovers 1-1 Port Vale: an injury hit Valiants managed a creditable draw thanks to a second-half goal from Devante Rodney
Danny Pugh’s injury-ravaged Port Vale squad was deprived of the likes of Tom Pope, David Worrall and Cristian Montano but new signing Jake Taylor started with Kurtis Guthrie on the bench.
In a poor first-half, Vale’s first chance came from a Tom Conlon shot that went wide while the home side threatened down the flanks. There was a good save from Scott Brown to deny Wagstaff before the home side took the lead on nineteen minutes. Cadden scored from a free-kick from the Vale’s left flank.
The Valiants were struggling to support lone central forward Devante Rodney and their best chances appeared to be corners with Shaun Brisley going the closest with a header. However, the Vale rarely looked a threat and the home side looked more dangerous on the break.
The second-half continued in much the same pattern with Vale failing to put any pressure on the home side. Pugh brought on Kurtis Guthrie and Devante Rodney had a low shot saved but the home side almost doubled their lead when Brown failed to deal with a long ball but the veteran recovered. The Vale keeper then made another good save down low from Richardson as Forest Green pressed for a second.
However, the Valiants made the home side pay for not stretching their lead. On 77 minutes the ball reached Devante Rodney on the edge of the box and his curling shot beat keeper McGee for his eighth of the season. It was probably against the run of play but Port Vale won’t complain.
In the dying minutes, Collins drove the ball well over and Rodney had a shot saved as both sides unsuccessfully pushed for a winner. It was a welcome point for Port Vale and means caretaker Danny Pugh remains unbeaten in the League after three games in charge.
Full-time: Forest Green Rovers 1-1 Port Vale
Port Vale: Brown, Mills, Smith, Brisley, Fitzpatrick, Joyce, Conlon, Taylor (Burgess), Amoo, Pope, Hurst (Guthrie)
Subs: Visser, Crookes, Cullen, Bailey, Campbell-Gordon
Bob Norbury
17th January 2021 @ 1:01 am
I am really pleased that Vale got a point from the game against Forest Green but overall it was not as satisfactory as it sounds. I am also pleased that Danny Pugh is managing to keep things moving in the dressing-room but to my mind during the last two or three seasons the person in charge,whoever it’s been, seems to think that you can win matches firing pea-shooters rather than using machine guns. By this I mean that Vale seem to approach every match as though we are not as good as the opposition and we quickly settle into a frame of mind where we need to defend when frankly we have the players to worry any side in attack but we don’t attack we simply kick the ball up the field and because generally we only have one player up front the ball is soon on it’s way back into the Vale’s half.
We need to play 4-4-2 and impose ourselves on the opposition so that they have to worry about us being keen to score goals instead of being like a shy girl at her first job and looking like a team who would be happy with a point. We have got a good squad of players who will become a good side if they approach matches as though that is their intention’
Also, the defence has got to realise that some of the goals we are giving away are preventable. We often seem to have two or three players round the ball and yet the opposition player is still the one that gets it and scores. Tighten up at the back and make opposition attackers feel that they are in for a difficult time.