Barrow 0-2 Port Vale: Tom Conlon scored twice, with his first surely the goal of the season, as Vale returned to winning ways with victory at Barrow.
Share your thoughts on the Port Vale performance. Post a comment at the end of this article.
Manager Darrell Clarke made three changes to his starting eleven as Burgess, Guthrie and Cullen came into the eleven.
It was a scrappy and somewhat bad tempered first-half with a fussy referee disrupting play too often.
The home side had the first chances in the first five minutes as they shot wide and over the bar. There was then a flurry of yellow cards before Cristian Montano had a great opportunity to score. He burst through the defence but forced a fine save out of the keeper.
Mark Cullen missed a header from a Conlon free-kick before the Vale skipper took centre stage on the half-hour mark. Conlon half-volleyed the opening goal from the centre circle with what will surely be the goal of the season. It was the captain’s eighth goal of the season.
Barrow pushed for an equaliser just before the break but Vale’s rejuvenated defence held firm.
The Valiants brought on veteran Tom Pope at the break for Cullen, who had had a quiet game. However, it continued to be a niggly game with some rough challenges and confrontations. As a result, the flow was disrupted resulting in few chances.
However, when Vale did conjure a chance it once again fell to the skipper as Pope sent Swan through, his shot was blocked and it fell to Conlon to fire the ball home. With 75 minutes gone, it was game over.
However, Brown was finally called into serious action just after Conlon’s second as he expertly saved Brough’s shot to maintain Vale’s clean sheet.
Vale pushed for a third but Conlon blazed well over and Swan’s shot was saved as the game drew to a close. In the dying seconds, Barrow forced another fine save out of Brown as they made it five clean sheets in a row.
It was another commanding performance from the back three leaving Scott Brown well protected while Luke Joyce was his industrious self and David Worrall again looked impressive in his wingback role. However, once again it was captain Tom Conlon who grabbed the headlines and he is surely odds on for the player of the season award.
Full-time: Barrow 0-2 Port Vale
Share your thoughts on the Port Vale performance. Post a comment at the end of this article.
Port Vale: Brown – Smith, Legge, Brisley – Worrall, Burgess (Whitehead), Joyce, Conlon, Montano (Gibbons) – Cullen (Pope), Guthrie (Swan)
Subs: Scott, Amoo, McKirdy
Conlon is proving to be a huge asset to the Vale side. He not only captains the team with considerable distinction but has gradually become an essential contributor on the pitch.
The turn round by Vale in the last six weeks has been eye-watering and hopefully points to great things to come next season. The whole squad is to be congratulated but just one worry is that the strikers are not producing the goods.
At the end of the season there will be players who will not be retained but that is a decision for the management team. For the time being it is simply fantastic time to be a Vale supporter, and as one of many season ticket holders who kept their money in the club I feel honoured for the appreciation shown by Carol Shanahan and the loyalty arrangements she has organised.