After four long seasons in League Two, two of which almost saw the club drop out of the reach of the Football League, Port Vale emphatically made their return to League One. The fifth-place finish with 78 points narrowly got The Valiants into the play-offs, with the team switching the engines back on at the most opportune moment.
In the end, eighth-place Sutton United were only two points behind, and Port Vale had gone into a tailspin. Flying into the promotion spaces on the back of an incredible eight-game winning streak, the Stoke-on-Trent residents then lost three on the bounce. A narrow 1-0 win over Exeter City to conclude the season rubber-stamped passage to the play-offs.
The emphatic story to promotion didn’t end there, though. A 2-1 loss to Swindon Town in the first leg was redeemed by a 1-0 win at home, taking the game to extra time and penalties. With the eighth spot kick, Mal Benning’s shot proved decisive after Ellis Iandolo missed his attempt. Then, it was on to Wembley Stadium for the final battle.
Given their end-of-season run and the struggles against Swindon Town in contrast to Mansfield Town winning both of their legs against the top seed, Northampton Town, many didn’t see Port Vale clinching promotion. Those thoughts quickly vanished, however, with 20th and 24th-minute headers from Kian Harratt and James Wilson all but putting the game to bed. Further dominance from The Valiants secured the 3-0 triumph.
It was an incredible run, but as is very often the case with newly promoted sides to any division, Port Vale’s first task has been to look down rather than up. Still, it’s been a decent start to the League One season, especially as the opening slate has cemented a place in the record books for the number of consecutive games without being awarded a penalty.
Given what’s been shown so far, and some reasons for optimism on the horizon, it’s high time we assess the expectations placed on Port Vale for this season, coming in and after the first ten games. Are they still relegation candidates, or can The Valiants begin looking higher up the table?
Labelled as relegation candidates before the first kick-off
League One is notoriously difficult to predict, but over the last couple of seasons, a somewhat distinct divide has been created within the division. A clear batch of contenders and relegation candidates has been noticeable, but there’s still always a chance for a team to emerge from a middling ranking to break into the play-off places. Coming into the season, Port Vale wasn’t expected to be this team.
Looking at the likes of Cheltenham, Forest Green, Exeter City, Bristol Rovers, and Port Vale, the latter two were previewed as being the best-equipped to handle the division, but neither really impressed in the transfer market. At the time of writing, Port Vale seem to be the more sure-footed of the two, with Rovers teetering just below the relegation line ten games in.
On the others pointed out above, Cheltenham Town only sit above Bristol Rovers by virtue of their three-goal-better differential, and Forest Green sit in 22nd because of their seven-goal-worse differential. Exeter City, on the other hand, have enjoyed a flying start to the season, winning four and drawing two of their opening ten games to sit tenth – but only two points above Port Vale in 15th.
Perhaps the best way to sum up The Valiants’ opening return to League One is ‘inconsistent’. Each of the side’s three wins have been separated by draws and losses, including a rather humbling 4-0 beating away to Exeter City in the second game of the season. This came just after a superb home opener, getting the better of Fleetwood Town 2-1.
The win against Shrewsbury Town has been the high point, especially given that they strengthened the side well in the summer. Still, that was also followed by a loss on an away trip to Peterborough, in which The Posh breezed to a 3-0 win. The 2-0 win against relegation-set Burton Albion was then levelled out by a loss to promotion candidates Portsmouth the following week.
One way that a bit of consistency can be found, though, is in the home and away form. At Vale Park, two wins, two draws, and a loss have been put in the books. Contrast that to three losses, one win, and one draw on their travels, and it’s clear that The Valiants are enjoying some home comforts. In League One, however, it’s vital to stifle and steal points in away games as they often prove decisive to the final table.
After this fairly strong set of results from the newly promoted side, the experts have begun to swing more in Port Vale’s favour. The platforms that offer the best free bets to new customers, including the popular Bet & Get promotions, see Port Vale as a long-shot promotion candidate, and fairly detached from the relegation battle. Now, you can get a Bet £10 & Get £50 to wager on Port Vale to achieve promotion at 22/1.
On the flip side, the oddsmakers have The Valiants at 40/1 to finish bottom of League One – good for eighth as the odds rank them – and 5/1 to get relegated, making them the joint-seventh favourites to drop. Still, Morecambe (4/11), Bristol Rovers (4/7), Burton Albion (8/11), Cheltenham (1/1), and Forest Green (11/10) are far more favoured to sink to League Two. Fleetwood Town (11/4) are also expected to fall off the pace.
Potential for improvement in the coming weeks
Ten games into the League One campaign, Port Vale had scored ten goals and conceded 15. Before the first kick-off, judgement for the team’s potential was reserved for the end of the transfer window, but perhaps it should be reserved for the return to full fitness of last season’s star striker. James Wilson scored 15 goals last season, but missed the first six games of this campaign with injury.
He’s slowly been worked back into the starting XI, with starts against Shrewsbury and Peterborough ending without a goal and before 90 minutes. In his place, however, late signing Ellis Harrison has done an admirable job. Joining the side from Fleetwood just in time to face Bolton Wanderers, he’s started and finished every league game since, scoring five goals to stand as the joint-fifth highest scorer in League One after ten games.
This shrewd bit of business has already paid off for The Valiants as, even if Wilson can’t quite find his shooting boots in this tier, the team can still rely on their new Welsh attacker to be a threat. On paper, having Wilson and Harrison on the field at the same time makes Port Vale menacing on the offensive. Against Shrewsbury, Harrison playing just behind a two yielded the new forward two goals.
It’s this bit of business that has granted Port Vale a healthy cushion above the relegation candidates in League One, and in theory, goalscoring will only become easier for the team when Wilson gets back up to speed. Averaging one goal per game likely won’t be enough, with Shrewsbury’s 47 goals in 46 games last season only being permitted due to their superb defensive record with only 51 conceded.
As a promoted side, Port Vale’s start to the season has been good, especially as they were the last over the line. Still, successive wins and getting more players involved in the scoring have to be the aim for Darrell Clarke to sustain a strong campaign.
Add your first comment to this post