Port Vale 2-0 Hartlepool Utd – Garrity and Pett goals help Valiants end poor run
Port Vale 2-0 Hartlepool Utd: goals from midfielders Ben Garrity and Tom Pett helped Vale win a scrappy encounter with Hartlepool at Vale Park.
Manager Darrell Clarke handed starts to Ryan Johnson, Aaron Martin and Brad Walker as Nathan Smith, Dan Jones and Tom Conlon missed out. Former Port Vale striker Mark Cullen was in the Hartlepool starting eleven.
It was a patchy start with the opponents arguably having the majority of possession but without really creating any clearcut chances. David Worrall fired over for the Valiants as both sides cancelled each other out in the opening thirty minutes.
However, Vale broke the deadlock on 33 minutes when the dangerous David Amoo reached the byline and his cross was turned home by Garrity for his fourth goal of the season.
That proved to be the only incident of note in a first-half largely devoid of chances and quality.
Half-time: Port Vale 1-0 Hartlepool Utd
However, Vale did better in the second-half with Pett volleying over the bar. The impressive James Gibbons and sub Dan Jones also tested the keeper but it took until the last minute for midfielder Tom Pett to make the game safe. He skipped past a couple of challenges before coolly finding the back of the net for his second goal for the club.
It was by no means a vintage Vale performance. James Gibbons and David Worrall were their usual marauding selves on the flanks while Ben Garrity impressed in an advanced midfield role. However, it’s likely that manager Darrell Clarke will worry less about the performance and be more concerned about the three points that end the club’s recent poor run.
Full-time: Port Vale 2-0 Hartlepool Utd
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Match stats
Port Vale: Covolan; Cass, Martin, Johnson; Worrall (Jones), Garrity, Pett, Walker, Gibbons; Amoo, Rodney
Subs: Stone, Burgess, Legge, Politic, Benning
Port Vale bookings: Worrall, Walker, Gibbons
Attendance: 4,839