Port Vale nearing unwelcome home goalscoring record

A failure to score against Newport County on Tuesday evening will see Port Vale equal an unwelcome club record.

The Vale have failed to score in their last four home games – against Bolton Wanderers, Oldham Athletic, Cambridge United and Stevenage.

The club record for failing to score in home games took place in 1998 when the Valiants failed to score in their first five home games – albeit two divisions higher than where the club stand this season.

The run started at the end of the 1997-98 season when Vale failed to score against Charlton Athletic and Middlesbrough. It continued into the start of the 1998-99 season when the Valiants failed to score against Birmingham City, West Bromwich Albion and Ipswich Town. The run was finally ended in the sixth home game when Vale won 2-1 against Wolverhampton Wanderers with Peter Beadle and Tony Naylor scoring.

The total minutes of the 1998 run was 470. If Vale fail to score on Tuesday they will have gone 451 minutes without a goal in 2020/21. So, if the Vale fail to score on Tuesday they will set an unwelcome club record if they go twenty minutes of the home game against Exeter City without a goal.

Perhaps the only silver lining is that despite that run in 1998, Vale stayed up at the end of the 1998-99 season!