Port Vale back in promotion control after Colchester victory
Port Vale is a proud club and one that looks to always try and progress both on and off the park. However, recent years have proven challenging for the club.
A rebuild in the summer has seen numerous new names arrive at the club, but the season so far has been slightly frustrating for Vale fans. A 3-0 win over Colchester United, though, was the perfect way to get the team back on track with a victory that showed the club’s clear promotion ambitions this summer.
Coach Darrell Clarke has done a good job of galvanising the team and keeping things ticking over, but results and performances have not always matched. In a very comfortable day that started with Vale in fourth and ending it in second, three goals scored without reply is always an excellent afternoon’s work.
The game was put to bed with goals from James Gibbons, James Wilson, and Aaron Martin. This was the seventh win in ten, showing the form mentioned above, and also showing a positive trend upward as the season moves towards the vital Christmas period.
Gibbons scored the first, opening the scoring after just six minutes. By the sixteenth minute, Wilson had scored a fine shot from 12 yards which put Vale in control. Colchester looks bedraggled, with the quick movement and the rapid build-up of attacks leaving the away team looking flustered.
However, as has often been the case this year, fans were left to worry a little as profligacy reared its ugly head once again. U’s keeper Shamal George was in fine form, keeping saves from Dennis Politic out and also keeping a 20-yarder from Tom Conlon out.
It looked to be a day of 2-going-on-5, but a third goal eventually arrived. Former West Ham United duo Freddie Sears and Frank Nouble both had good chances for the away side, though both were denied by Lucas Covolan to keep that vital zero on the scoreboard. At that moment, Colovan may not be regarded as one the greatest Brazilian football players of all time but he is at least proving his critics wrong.
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Can Vale push on from here?
After the game, the message from Clarke was clear: keep on going. seven wins in 10 is excellent, but with a small squad that might face some injury issues as we move into the winter period, it will be vital to keep the team firing on all cylinders. Clarke was delighted with the performance, though, adding in his post-match comments: “I am delighted. It was a very strong performance and I think it’s been a very good week. After getting seven points, I am absolutely over the moon with the week.
“It’s nice to finish off with a really strong performance. At the start of the week, you look at your targets and, without getting carried away because it is a tough league, you are looking at six points as being a really positive week. But we have managed to get seven.”
Darrell Clarke also said that Ben Garrity was given a “breather” after he didn’t make the squad for the 3-0 win.
With Vale in a good place and playing solidly, delivering on the promise of attacking goalscoring football. Fans are excited about what comes next. However, the team has been here before – it will be up to Clarke and co. to keep the lad’s feet on the ground as the fixtures begin to pile up on the Christmas run-in.
Clarke’s Vale team have shown great potential. There are no reasons why we should not be playing in League 1 next year. Longer term the sky really is the limit with Clarke at the wheel. Considering that a club like Crystal Palace is playing its ninth straight season in the Premier League, why shouldn’t Vale fans should not be allowed to dream big.