Barnsley 7-0 Port Vale fan match reports – “a humiliation, a nightmare start and the personification of ‘disaster’…”
Hmmm, it’s not the best game to kick off our new fan match reports features – but here are the views of a handful of mostly shellshocked Port Vale fans…
Welcome to our new feature for the 2023-24 as a selection of supporters offer their opinions on the game.
The Evil Dead – “the personification of ‘disaster'”
The match:
If ever a match was the personification of ‘disaster’, this was most definitely it. An initially positive 25 minutes that saw plenty of endeavour, closing down, winning second balls and good link up play, albeit not really testing the home goalkeeper too frequently. Then a poor pass by Dan Jones was intercepted, and an inch perfect pass into the box was slotted home to give the home side the lead against the run of play. A fortuitous own goal by the hapless Jones on the stroke of half time then put Barnsley in a commanding position.
What followed in the second half was nothing short of embarrassing. Barnsley players in acres of space. An apparent lack of desire. A capitulation of epic proportions followed. Devante Cole wrapped up the easiest hat trick of his career, whilst goals from defender Liam Kitching, Jonathan Russell and substitute Andrew Dallas piled on the misery for the Valiants.
Talking Points
The main question on everybody’s lips will be ‘why did Andy Crosby play virtually the same team that struggled so much last season?’. The pre season talk of wanting a more physical and athletic team then leaving those exact players on the bench was quite bizarre, to say the least. Will the players bounce back on Tuesday night when they’re in League Cup action against Fleetwood Town? Will Andy Crosby make the clearly necessary changes, or give some of those players the opportunity to make amends? Things certainly can’t get any worse and fans will be absolutely demanding a big response from such a pitiful start to the campaign.
Star Man
Connor Ripley – the Vale goalkeeper, on his competitive debut, really couldn’t be criticised too much, despite conceding 7 goals. His distribution, on the whole, was excellent.
Player Ratings
Ripley – 6, Jones – 2, Smith – 5, Cass – 3, Ojo – 4, Grant – 4, Sang – 4, Garrity – 4, Clark – 5, Harrison – 5, Massey – 4.
Subs – Chislett – 4, Thomas – 4, Plant – 4, Iacovitti – 4, Arblaster – 4.
Vale 1995 – “a nightmare start”
The match:
All the anticipation for the new season came crashing down as Vale’s second half collapse confirmed a nightmare start under the Crosby Era. Vale started the game brightly and were on the front foot from the off looking to stretch the play. The Vale looked dangerous down the flanks and didn’t give Barnsley anytime to settle into any kind of rhythm. We managed to get in behind a few times without creating any clear cut chances and were delivering balls into the box with Barnsley under pressure, however they failed to land at a Vale attacker’s feet.
In the 23rd minute with the Vale advancing forward Dan Jones played a hospital ball across towards Grant on the left. However, the sign-posted ball was easily intercepted by the Barnsley attacker who ran down the right and played a simple square ball to Devante Cole who calmly slid the ball underneath Connor Ripley to give Barnsley an undeserving lead. Dan Jones’ afternoon to forget got worse as he deflected in Barnsley’s second from a cross on the 45th minute giving the hosts a two goal advantage going into the second half.
I can only comment on the second half until the fifth Barnsley goal as i joined many others in taking an early exit. A thirteen minute spell saw the hosts add three goals to their tally and a complete and utter shocking showing from the Vale. Barnsley strolled through at ease to add their goals with no marking, no tracking, no fight, no determination and no pride. The goals we conceded were appalling and a real worry going forward. As Adam Yates said on the commentary last season we conceded 70+ goals last season. We have conceded 10% of that already with one game played.
Star man:
Tough decision as there aren’t many contenders but I’d have to go Mitch Clark as he had gone off by the time the collapse happened. I thought he looked energetic down the right although final decisions let him down on a few occasions.
Player ratings:
- Ripley – 3 – distribution was good at times however although none of the goals were directly his fault he will be disappointed not to have kept a few out.
- Clark – 6 – dangerous down the right. Could see the effort and desire to get forward. Says everything that the MOTM is only just above average
- Cass – 2 – extremely poor defensively looked completely out of depth. Not sure he is league One quality
- Smith -4 – the better out of the three thought he had a decent first half defensively, however distribution let him down on occasion. Part of a defence that conceded seven
- Jones – 2 – two errors that saw us go into the break the pass for the first was dreadful and he never recovered.
- Grant – 4 – got forward well in the first 20 however his impact in game after that was minimal
- Ojo – 4 – tidy first half won his 50:50s tried to get on the ball. Should have done better with final decision when got in behind first half.
- Sang – 5 – a game of two halves for Sang Thought first half was impressive in the centre as drove us forward and broke up play well. Looked completely out of place second half at RWB
- Garrity- 4 – pretty anonymous didn’t have much impact on the game at all
- Massey – 4 – thought Massey tried today again looked lively first 20 minutes however his first touch let him down quite a few times. Frustrating.
- Harrison. 4 – put himself about tried to get shots away. Was unlucky with header in first half. Starved of service with very little being created.
- I cant rate the subs as didn’t see them play for long enough.
Rob Fielding – “a humiliation”
The match:
Well, what to say about that? I reckon that after about twenty minutes, Vale fans would have been pleased with an energetic start to the game. Perhaps by that stage worries about lack of firepower may be surfacing as Vale failed to take advantage, but it’s unlikely Vale fans would have been concerned about a leaky backline. Then one Dan Jones misplaced pass later and Vale were behind and it was a completely different game. That doesn’t mean this thrashing was Jones’ fault – plenty of other Vale players can take their share of the blame as the side fell apart. They looked a class below the home side who simply scored at will. Quite simply – it was a humiliation and an awful start to the season!
Talking points:
It may be only one game in but it goes without saying that this was a really worrying performance from the Vale side. A lot of talk in the summer was about the lack of forward options but I think this game showed some serious deficiencies at the back.
There were many, many negatives but it was at least a glimpse of positivity with reasonably (in the circumstances) bright performances from subs Thomas, Arblaster and Plant. It clearly wasn’t enough to distract from some worrying problems elsewhere with Vale looking truly awful for long periods.
Anyway, enough said about the performances (or lack of them on the pitch) so let’s end with a word about the travelling Vale support who once again came out in their numbers and had to endure an awful performance.
Star man:
He was only on for the first-half but Mitch Clark caused far more problems in that time than many of his team mates did in ninety minutes. Apart from that, a near universal awful performance from the entire team.
Player ratings:
Ripley 5, Cass 4, Smith 5, Jones 4, Clark 6 (Chislett 5) Ojo 5, Sang 4 (Plant 5), Grant 4 (Arblaster 5) Garrity 5, Massey 4 (Thomas 5), Harrison 4 (Iacovitti 5),
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