Port Vale 1-0 Reading fan match reports – “vastly improved”… “could see the improvement”…
Vale bounced back from their opening day humiliation with a 1-0 home win over Reading at Vale Park. Here’s how it looked from the terraces.
Welcome to our new feature for the 2023-24 as a selection of supporters offer their opinions on the game.
The Evil Dead – “a vastly improved display”
The Match
A vastly improved display from the Vale after the horror show at Barnsley on the opening day. It was a bit of a slow burner during the first part of the first half. The Valiants allowed the visitors to have the majority of possession and sat relatively deep, given most of their play was knocking it about amongst their back line. The visitors were awarded a penalty as Dan Jones dangled a leg in the box after initial poor play from Ben Garrity allowed the Reading man a free run into the box. Step up the big man, Connor Ripley, who thwarted veteran striker Andy Carroll with a great stop to his right.
The second half was a complete contrast. Vale absolutely dominated in every aspect of the game. Some excellent crisp, passing football in amongst an excellent press, winning aerial battles, being first to second balls, brilliant team organisation and solidity. All the ingredients for an extremely deserved win which came courtesy of a Ben Garrity effort that took a deflection and looped over visiting goalkeeper, David Button. Vale’s game management was excellent until the final whistle for a fully deserved victory.
Talking Points
Pre-match thoughts would’ve been whether those retaining their places from Tuesday would build on that opportunity to solidify their place in the starting eleven? Would Ellis Harrison being unavailable affect us? Could we improve on the leaky defence that had conceded 9 in the opening two fixtures? The answer was a unanimous yes. An excellent first clean sheet of the season. Was it just one great performance, or have we settled on our preferred setup? The subs coming on certainly have given the manager food for thought heading into Tuesday’s trip to Blackpool.
Star Man
Ollie Arblaster – an absolutely superb performance from a young man displaying excellent maturity and endeavour and work rate in abundance. Totally dictated play in the middle of the park, and given his personal family bereavement, an excellent display of the boy’s character.
Player Ratings
Ripley 7 – didn’t have an awful lot to do but a great penalty save, good distribution and commanding of his box.
Jones 6 – a solid afternoon. Conceded the penalty, although I’d argue the blame falls at the feet of Ben Garrity for that one. Did almost score a bizarre own goal with a stray backpass but on the whole, was part of a backline that didn’t give up a single shot on target from open play.
Smith 8 – Captain Fantastic and back to his best. Absolutely warrior-like performance against a vastly experienced former Premier League and England International striker and didn’t give him a sniff all afternoon. A real leader’s performance.
Iacovitti 7 – a very, very composed display from the big man. Won his aerial duels, mopped up loose balls and always looked to be positive with the ball rather than aimlessly punting it upfield.
Grant 6 – solid afternoon. Did his job well, linked up well with the midfielders and generally kept the opposition at bay.
Sang 6 – a good display from Tom, neat and tidy and didn’t give much away.
Ojo 7 – very good from Funso. Carried the ball well, got stuck in and tackled well, tracked back excellently on a few occasions to cut out the opposition on the edge of the box, a good afternoon’s work.
Chislett 6 – a quiet first half followed by a lively and industrious second. Full of energy, a low sense of gravity when carrying the ball and always forward thinking.
Arblaster 9 – MOTM by a country mile. An absolutely wonderful performance far above his age. Disciplined, composed, clever and decisive. Well done young man.
Garrity 7 – after initially being at fault for the penalty, he grew into the game and finished very strongly. Battled gard, got the winning goal, ran his socks off and contributed to a great second half display.
Thomas 7 – a very underrated effort. Absolutely ran himself into the ground, never giving the Reading back line too much time to dwell on the ball and was full of energy. His pace is a great outlet.
Subs
Wilson 6 – steady enough, didn’t have an awful lot to do but kept things ticking over
Plant 7 – an excellent effort from the bench, wasn’t caught out as he was against Barnsley and Fleetwood. Played with maturity, making the right decisions at the right times. Good going.
Clark 7 – another brilliant showing from the bench. Mitch drove at their defence in a much higher position than usual and causing them no end of issues. Better decision making and end product on one or two occasions would’ve seen us with a more comfortable scoreline too.
Massey 6 – much, much better from Gav. He looked lively, utilised his pace well, tried to beat his man and put one or two excellent balls into the box.
Cass N/A – wasn’t on long enough to make a judgement but saw out the last few minutes with relative ease.
Chicken Steve – “it’s great to see us having a go”
The match:
After watching our attempts at zonal marking against Fleetwood, and with the echoes of last Saturday hanging like the black clouds surrounding Vale Park I will admit to feeling nervous about today’s game, Reading hadn’t won in the league since February and history reminds us that Vale are benevolent to teams needing a stroke of luck.
Back in my normal perch for the league games, I have a shallow view of the action. In the first half we started on the back foot, conceding possession with attempts to play out on the break. Clearly, we had worked on the marking because this was better, although the match might as well have been ten v ten because Smith and Carroll’s private wrestling match was being played out five feet from the ball. Reading were well on top and dominating the ball without really threatening the goal. The cries from the Lorne Street of “kick it out” were being heeded by the players who as a team seemed determined to defend the box better than last week. Nonetheless, benevolent Vale gifted a penalty to Reading (the crowd thought it was Jones with the foul) which was well saved by Rippers. This quietened the 1,100 away fans behind him and as the half went on we had the ball in the net (I am told it was Yak) but the liner preserved the 0-0. Vale were growing into the game and by half time it was a relatively even game.
First Half Positives –
- Ripley for the penalty stop although afterward he must have had a rush of adrenaline because he kicked several goalkicks out of play.
- Thomas led the line on his own bringing the ball out with pace. We looked like we were playing more as a team and we were actually shooting towards if not always at the goal!
First Half Negatives –
- Tactically we sat back and invited Reading onto us.
The second half started in the same vein as the first ended but suddenly after 50 mins Vale pushed up and the game opened up, it was all Vale. Thomas, Arblaster and Garrity all had good possession and attempts started to rain in on the Bycars Stand. However, the accuracy of the shooting was poor and generally, it was the pigeons in danger, but as fans we could see the improvement and roared the team on. Now it was Reading defending desperately and eventually after the ball had run for them all game Garrity got a stroke of luck. After a great break from our half by Thomas where he turned and, despite three defenders being on him, he ran up to the edge of the area and held the ball up for Garrity to have a crack, and with a deflection Vale Park went delirious!
On Tuesday night we had sat back on a lead and been lucky, after numerous subs from both sides Reading threw players forward but Vale countered and an end-to-end game was ensured. We certainly didn’t sit back and I don’t recall Ripley actually having much to do. The Bycars stand continued to be peppered with Vale attempts and with Mitch Clarke’s speed and physicality after his introduction winning the battle on the right. Vale gave as good as they got.
Second-half Positives –
- Thomas – a great addition to the squad, the goal and most of the good forward play came from him.
- Clark – first time I’ve seen him in a Vale shirt – he won everything after he came on.
Second Half Negatives –
- It’s great to see us having a go at goal but the lads need target practice! We could have scored four.
Also, a mention for Massey – playing with Clarke on the right wing he was excellent after his introduction, the two combined well, and service into the box was good. Yak – looked solid on Tuesday and today, he and Smudger swapped Carroll around and nullified him.
It was a good crowd despite plenty of empty seats around the ground. Hopefully, we can
get some better followings behind the lads this season.
Rob Fielding – “much improved”
The match:
Once again Vale were slow out of the blocks for the third game in succession as Reading dominated the early play. While we’re on the subject of repeats, it was another error from Dan Jones as his trailing leg saw Reading awarded a penalty. However, the hulking figure of Connor Ripley kept Vale in it.
The Valiants looked nervy in the opening half but one bright spot was Thomas upfront who was lively and pacy. After the break though it was a different story as Vale pressed forward and took control of the game.
The winner from Garrity had a touch of fortune to it but in fairness, it was a deserved lead and a deserved three points for a much improved Vale side.
Talking points:
- Dan Jones, for all his long throws and long-range passing always looks to have a mistake at the back. He made two at Barnsley and another here, although thankfully unpunished.
- Connor Ripley showed what a quality addition he is with a vital spot-kick save. I wonder how many points he will save the Vale this season?
Player ratings:
There were some strong performances out there. Ripley was solid while Nathan Smith won his wrestling battle by a fall and a submission and the Yak looked like a strong presence. Ben Garrity had an excellent game as did Funso Ojo. Loanee Oliver Arblaster showed some lovely touches while Connor Thomas never stopped running upfront.
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