It will take a miracle for this Port Vale side – bereft of confidence, skill, resilience and goal threat to escape the relegation zone. The side’s lack of belief was in evidence on Saturday as they were comfortably beaten by an Oxford United side who had shipped five goals in midweek.
Team news
Manager Darren Moore brought Mitch Clark back into his starting eleven after his recovery from injury. Clark replaced the injured Tom Sang. He also kept faith with loanee Alex Mighten. Striker Ryan Loft was named on the bench alongside youngsters Jack Shorrock and Baylee Dipepa.
First-half
Port Vale deservedly left the pitch to a chorus of boos after yet another dreadful 45 minutes of football at Vale Park.
Ironically, the Valiants started brightly for the opening ten minutes with a Massey shot deflected and an Ojo effort well wide but that would pretty much be it in terms of Vale attacking efforts.
From that point onwards, Oxford lay siege to the Vale goal with fullbacks Mitch Clark (who to be fair looked nowhere near fit) and Dan Jones unable to cope. A corner came in on sixteen minutes and Ciaron Brown was allowed to turn and put the visitors ahead. A succession of other chances came – Murphy blazed over, Jones cleared off the line and Ripley had to make a close-range save. The Valiants could not clear their lines with Owen Dale causing all sorts of problems.
There was time for a two minute spell of madness from Ripley as he rushed off his line and he was fortunate not to concede a penalty before wildly miskicked a clearance.
The constant Oxford pressure prompted two early changes from Darren Moore with an unfit Clark and an off-the-pace Lowe replaced by Plant and Chislett, but still the Oxford pressure continued and the fans showed their discontent as the players left the pitch.
Half-time: Port Vale 0-1 Oxford United
Second-half
It only took three minutes for Oxford to wrap the game up. There was time for James Wilson to break but shoot wide before Dale forced a save from Ripley which produced a corner. From it, Josh Murphy then wrapped the game up with a curling effort past Ripley.
The second goal at least prompted a passage of attacking play from Vale but their lack of confidence and lack of goal threat meant Oxford were able to cope with the pressure relatively easily. The visitors were comfortable with their two goal advantage and sat back with the Valiants never looking like scoring.
On the other hand, Oxford should have made it three on 77 minutes as they broke with Josh Murphy left completely unmarked on the left. However, he failed to control the ball and Ripley saved. Vale countered with a rare shot as Dipepa’s shot was blocked on the line. Oxford then had another chance to increase their lead on 85 minutes only for an unmarked Brannagan to fire wide. The gulf in class between the two sides had been obvious throughout the ninety minutes.
It was no surprise at all that it ended with Vale having failed to hit the back of the net as their chances of staying in League One took a potentially fatal blow. The fans who’d endured it all made their feelings known as Vale left the field to a chorus of boos and it completed a thoroughly miserable afternoon for Port Vale.
Full-time: Port Vale 0-2 Oxford United
Closing thoughts
There were so many familiar themes during this match that I have to apologise for repeating them once again.
Firstly, this Vale defence is one of the worst for years. There were unforced errors all over the place and it was cut open with ease at times. Furthermore it cannot defend corners – both of Oxford’s goals coming from that route.
Secondly, the team are utterly devoid of confidence – it even affected the normally reliable Connor Ripley at times. It’s difficult to name a single Port Vale player who came out of this game with any credit.
Thirdly, this situation is not going to change without a major review and upheaval of the football side of the club. Director of Football David Flitcroft is the man with ultimate responsibility, who has performed poorly during three transfer windows, who is responsible for this unbalanced and underperforming squad and who has handed many players contracts stretching through to the end of next season making a summer rebuild increasingly difficult. The majority of Port Vale fans are baffled (and deeply concerned) that he remains in post.
Please note the following stats components may take a little while to update after the final whistle
Match stats
Port Vale: Ripley – Clark (Plant), Smith, Debrah, Jones (Loft) – Massey, Ojo, Lowe (Chislett), Mighten (Dipepa) – Garrity, Wilson
Unused subs: Leutwiler, Lopata, Shorrock
Vale bookings: Clark, Lowe
Vale goals: none
Attendance: 5,627 (493 visitors)
Another game with “NO SHOTS ON TARGET”
What we would give for a
John Rowlands
John James
Andy Jones
At least I had the privilege of seeing real Vale strikers.
New week same old rubbish. No effort ,pride, passion. No repeat of Orient where there was effort.A yard slower to the ball than Oxford. This is the worst team in a decade. Every corner we concede we look like conceding goals. Flitcroft OUT, but not for a minute after the game has ended, a more intense and organised effort needed. Roll on league 2 tour!
Should have brought back Cass from Stoockport. How can Clark be match fit when there’s no reserve team to get players fit for first team.Structure of whole club aright old mess.
You have to be fair about things and Darren Moore came in with the team struggling but there has not been any improvement in fact it looks worse so do Vale fans think we would have done any worse or any better keeping Andy Crosby
Ron, Crosby was a fall guy nothing more, they sacked him and I can tell you this if Carol had half a brain she would have offered him a coaching job, as a coach he was one of the best ever, managing was not his forte,I am afraid I am already sick of hearing Mores banter about we must be quicker to the ball etc, etc, Smith and Jones should not be in the Vale side,Deborah, is far to slow, and our super striker Ipazue is less than useless, he was not good enough the first time around at Vale, why is he good enough now, They are destroying the Club from inside.
Yet again Flitcroft says team lacking confidence.
Players need to realise £2/3/4/5000 a week they should be confident every time they put on a Vale shirt MAN UP guys for gods sake .
Something must be going on behind the scenes. I live in South Wales so can’t go matches, but early in the season everyone was raving about Funso, Chislet Massey and Deborah to name 4 but now saying that they’re not trying. I ask why??We’re told that the team are together but it doesn’t seem like it. No matter what Moore does if the players aren’t trying there’s something wrong
I’ve been a Vale supporter for 60 years…. I’ve never been so disillusioned as feel right now.
Again another game where expectations are hoping for some kind of energetic performance however the delivery was awful and embarrassing. Jones at left back was horrendous accompanied by fellow defenders who weren’t much better, midfield players who don’t track opponents and create nothing going forward resulting in hopeful punts up front. Ripley apart from an odd error still made a couple of tremendous saves keeping the score down to two. In summary we have replaced reasonable players with players who are not good enough to represent the club. Recruitment has to be answered as to how we have been left with the low ability players we are paying to watch. Supporters deserve answers to what the majority of us feel has been the reason we are heading for relegation.
Moore out. Dreadful appointment. Vale dont even play league two standard football at the minute. Its non league. Awful in every single department. Hes got go. Sacking Clarke was a huge mistake. He gave Vale an identity that has sadly long long gone.
This is the worst Vale team I’ve ever seen. There isn’t one player who stands out in defence, midfield or attack!
Flitcroft has to go before we can make a challenge for promotion in league 2!
Oxford were solid in all departments particularly in defence and midfield, The difference is they all have specific jobs and stick to them. There number 5 was great, he won everything in the air and was pinging balls all over the pitch.
If there was any doubt before, there is none now. The Vale will be relegated. What the owners thought of this and other losing performances in recent weeks would be very interesting to know. So too the conversations between them and DOF Flitcroft. The overall lack of quality in this squad is alarming, as is the total lack of confidence. Times have certainly changed since the team defeated Oxford away early this season.
Moore was absolutely hopeless at Huddersfield
I have supported the vale for 60 years through the highs of promotion and lows of relegation I have never known a team so lacking in effort,fight and talent where ever we were in the league and who ever we played I always had belief we could win but not anymore.i now only expect defeat