Northampton Town 1-0 Port Vale match report
Goalkeeper Lucas Covolan was sent-off on his Port Vale debut as the Valiants’ long opening day unbeaten streak came to an end.
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Manager Darrell Clarke rang the changes with Covolan, Jones, Martin, Johnson, Pett, Walker and Wilson all making their Valiants debuts.
It was a frenetic and high tempo match and Vale will be unlucky to come away from Sixfields with no points.
Northampton also had a much changed line-up with eight debutants in their line-up and it was Vale who initially took advantage with a strong opening to the first-half.
However, it was to no avail as the home side took the lead through Ashley-Seal’s first League goal on 23 minutes. The Valiants responded through efforts from Rodney and Pett, while James Wilson missed a great chance to equalise after good work from Rodney.
Vale also started the second-half strongly but were rocked when Covolan was sent-off on the hour mark as he was deemed to have committed a professional foul on Kabamba. Vale brought on Aidan Stone for his debut for the club.
The closing stages had an edge to them with a string of Northampton players booked for fouls on Vale players but the ten men Valiants were unable to create any clearcut chances as the home side were able to fairly comfortably see out the match.
What did you think of the game? Share your thoughts and post a comment at the bottom of the article.
Match stats
Port Vale: Covolan; Worrall, Smith, Martin, Johnson (Stone 56), Jones; Pett, Walker (Hurst 75), Conlon; Rodney, Wilson (Proctor 75)
Subs: Legge, Garrity, Cass, Benning
Attendance: 5,804
Port Vale bookings: Martin and Johnson)
Port Vale sending-off: Covolan (56)