The Potteries Derby: A Special Rivalry
Port Vale and Stoke City are among the oldest football clubs in England. While Stoke City have played the Premier League in recent history, Port Vale are yet to reach the top class of English football. As a matter of fact, their 112 straight years in Football League without an elite-tier appearance represents a record in English professional football.
We haven’t seen the clashes between the two bitter Stoke-on-Trent rivals in decades but it is always good to recall some of the legendary matches these two iconic Staffordshire outfits have produced over the course of history.
History of the rivalry
Both Midlands rivals were founded in the late 19th century. Port Vale initially had their hosting town of Burslem in the prefix while Stoke City were officially founded as Stoke Ramblers. They have featured in the inaugural Potteries derby on December 2nd, 1882 when Burslem Port Vale secured a 1-1 stalemate as heavy underdogs in the Staffordshire Senior Cup affair.
Their maiden recognized significant encounter came in the opening round of the FA Cup in 1887 when Stoke claimed a 1-0 victory. More than three decades have then passed before the next clash between the Potteries rivals as liquidation and bankruptcy kept them apart in separate divisions. Stoke City were the more successful team back then as well, claiming a 3-0 victory at Port Vale’s new home court, the Old Recreational Ground.
The top scorer in Vale’s history, Wilf Kirkham, then added a special flavor to the derby by scoring some super important goals that launched the Valiants to several wins of their own. Speaking of Kirkham, we must say he finished his career with 164 goals across competitions. ‘He is still considered to be the best-ever player to have worn Vale’s shirt’ said Mark Wighan, UK football expert at betting tips 4 you website. Kirkham guided Port Vale to five subsequent wins over arch-rivals as Stoke City only caught their breakthrough in 1928. The Potters had gone on to dominate the city rivalry for the next five years before the outfits got split into separate divisions once again.
Record-breaking attendance numbers in the 1950s
Port Vale and Stoke City run into each other once again in the 1950s, the golden years of the rivalry in terms of attendance. We have regularly seen 40,000 to 50,000 people in the stands at Vale Park (the new Port Vale home) and the Victoria Ground throughout their three-year period together in the second division of English football.
These were all intense battles without too many chances at both ends. We have seen only a single goal across two outings in the first year of their renewed rivalry in the 1954/55 Second Division campaign. Draws were generally the most common outcomes back then.
Violent derbies in the late 1980s
The arch-enemies parted ways for more than three decades once again before coming across each other in the Second Division football in the 1989/90 campaign. The fans were three decades without the Potteries derby as they saw their beloved teams going through league exclusions, financial problems, stadium damages, failures, successes, promotions, and relegations.
The police and local authorities have quickly forgotten about the intensity of the rivalry as they failed to secure proper conditions for the first Potteries derby after three decades. As a consequence, the fans created chaos on the streets of Stoke on Trent. Police arrested 85 supporters on the occasion. As for the match itself, it ended in a 1-1 stalemate, a result that made Vale’s fans much happier back at the time. It was the season in which Port Vale finished the season at a higher position than their bitter rivals for the first time since World War II.
The two derbies from the Vale’s returning season among the second-tier teams gave birth to new ferocious fans who took the rivalry to a whole new level in the 1990s. These derbies had something special about them with both teams in the chase for the top flight promotion. Stoke claimed a 2-1 victory at the Victoria Ground in the first game of the following season while Port Vale advanced from the FA Cup tie thanks to a 3-1 win in the second leg at flooded Vale Park.
The next several years saw Port Vale’s dominance as Stoke City managed just two wins in eight Potteries derbies by the fall of the decade. The last match of the decade ended in a goalless draw in the 1997/98 campaign, a season in which the Potters were relegated to third division while the Vailants rescued themselves at the death courtesy of a commanding final-day win over Huddersfield Town.
The last set of matches occurred in the early 2000s when Port Vale continued their dominance by going unbeaten in six straight affairs against Stoke City who were then purchased by an Icelandic consortium.
At the moment, there is just one division separating the two teams. Who knows, we may see the continuation of this fierce and super-exciting rivalry sooner than expected.
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