Port Vale 0-1 Leyton Orient report – managerless Valiants lose and slip into relegation zone

No strikers. No manager. No coaches. No form. However, Vale still have a Director of Football in place even though he wasn’t to be seen trying to help the team out of their rut. In those circumstances, it was inevitable that, managed by rookies, Port Vale slipped to a home loss and increased their relegation fears…

Team news

Academy boss Will Ryder was put in temporary charge of the side to the surprise of many who felt that Director of Football David Flitcroft, with his managerial experience, should have stepped up. Ryder dropped captain Nathan Smith, wingbacks Gavin Massey and Conor Grant to the bench, while Alex Iacovitti failed to make the squad. Into the starting eleven came loanee Casper Lopata for his full debut, fit again Funso Ojo returned to the central midfield while Tom Sang and Jack Shorrock came in on the flanks. Fit again Dan Jones was named on the bench.

First-half

The opening 45 minutes were dominated by the visitors who had multiple shots on the Vale goal. The first chance was after six minutes when a Cooper effort was saved by Ripley. The Valiants stopper was then kept busy as Forde had three opportunities to score which he spurned while Cooper and Archibald also had chances. Vale were largely backs to the wall for the opening half an hour apart from a Chislett free-kick which went just wide.

Ironically, after all the pressure, Vale had a couple of chances of their own. They both fell to youngster Shorrock who hit on over and then forced a good save from the Orient keeper. It was all-square at the break but the Valiants were grateful to Ripley for keeping them in the game.

Half-time: Port Vale 0-0 Leyton Orient

Second-half

Vale started the opening minutes of the second 45 brightly before Orient again took charge. Ethan Chislett saw a shot saved before the visitors should have taken the lead when a 53rd minute shot rattled against the bar. There was also a great one-on-one save from Ripley on Sotiriou three minutes later. However, the Vale stopper had no chance three minutes later when Orient captain El Mizouri put them deservedly in front.

From that point, Orient were largely comfortable with the shotshy Valiants failing to trouble the visitors until the dying moments when teenager Baylee Dipepa forced a save. As the game ended after seven minutes, the Vale fans made their feeling clear as a rousing chorus of “David Flitcroft get out of our club” was heard from the Hamil End.

Full-time: Port Vale 0-1 Leyton Orient

Closing thoughts

This would have been a comfortable win for Leyton Orient but for Connor Ripley, whose string of saves prevented it being by a greater margin. Credit too to Jesse Debrah who worked hard and some flashes of skill from Ethan Chislett. It’s worth mentioning the effort (but perhaps not the skill) of Ryan Loft who at least put a shift in.

However, Vale’s troubled run far deeper than a ninety minute display. The failures in the January window are surely the fault of the Director of Football David Flitcroft. The same bloke who had a poor window in January 2023. The same person who really should have stood up and taken responsibility for managing the team from the bench. The same man who was the subject of the fans’ ire at the end of ninety minutes. The fans seem clear about where the club needs to make a change.