Striker Devante Cole scored in his third consecutive game for Port Vale but it took a late Ronan Curtis penalty to win the game against a dogged Mansfield side.
Team News
Team NewsPort Vale manager Darren Moore made two changes from the away win over Exeter City. Jordan Gabriel coming in for Kyle John on the right flank and Jesse Debrah replacing Ben Heneghan at the back.
Deadline day signing George Hall was named on the bench but there was no place for experienced striker Jayden Stockley with Ronan Curtis, Dajaune Brown and Mo Faal the attacking options on the bench. The Valiants were noticeably short of wingback cover for Gabriel and Gordon.
First-half
First-halfPort Vale’s attack caused the visitors problems as they saw Ryan Sweeney dismissed but Vale were unable to make their man advantage count as it finished all-square at the break. Skipper Ben Garrity came closest to breaking the deadlock.
It was a bright start by the Valiants with Devante Cole having the first chance on 12 minutes. A long kick from Joe Gauci evaded the Mansfield defence and Cole was one-on-one with the keeper only to see his shot saved. The visitors’ defence was looking shaky and it was exposed again on 14 minutes as Ryan Sweeney pulled back Ruari Paton. It was a professional foul and Mansfield were down to ten men.
Prior to that incident, Mansfield had had periods of pressure but with a man advantage Vale started to dominate possession. However, the next clear chance did not arrive till the half-hour mark with Liam Gordon’s cross being met by Ben Garrity’s header which was saved. The Vale skipper had another effort on 39 minutes but his long-range drive went wide. It was a similar story for striker Ruari Paton on 44 minutes.
Then the best chance of the half saw Humphreys find Garrity on the six yard box but his close range shot was well saved. That was it in terms of chances for the home side as Mansfield closed the half out. It was frustrating for the fans who felt the home side should have pushed home their advantage more forcefully.
Half-time: Port Vale 0-0 Mansfield Town
Second-half
Second-halfStriker Devante Cole scored once again but Vale had to rely on a late Ronan Curtis penalty to secure all three points.
Vale made attacking changes at the break with Curtis and Faal coming on for Debrah and Croasdale. The half started in a similar manner with Vale probing for an opportunity. It took a predator’s finish from Devante Cole to open the scoring. Once again it was the front two combining as Paton put in a powerful cross and Cole bundled it home to put the Valiants ahead on 53 minutes. The striker had now scored in all three of his Vale games.
Provider Paton then blotted his copybook by getting needlessly involved in a flare-up and getting a yellow for his troubles. He was then replaced by George Hall for his Port Vale debut on 58 minutes. Hall’s first contribution was a dangerous cross which caused Mansfield problems. He was involved again minutes later as he linked up well with Cole.
There was a rare chance for the visitors on 72 minutes but Evans mis-kicked when well placed.
The Valiants suffered a blow when Liam Gordon went down injured on 75 minutes. With no wingback on the bench, Connor Hall switched to an unfamiliar role. Vale were having bags of possession but little in the way of clear chances.
It looked like one had come on 83 minutes when sub Ronan Curtis went down in the box but he was flagged offside. However, it was the visitors who got the next opportunity and took it brilliantly. Oates cut in from the right flank on 85 minutes and his curling shot gave Gauci no chance. It came from the flank where Gordon had departed injured and Vale will probably rue not having a natural replacement for the wingback on the bench.
Vale tried to counter with a dangerous cross from the lively Curtis on 90 minutes. As the game entered additional time, Curtis went down in the box and the referee awarded a penalty. Curtis stepped up to score and send the Vale fans wild.
Full-time: Port Vale 2-1 Mansfield Town
Analysis
The match
The ten man visitors clearly tried to kill the game at times – that’s no criticism as Vale would also try to take up time when a man down. However, it did spoil the game as a spectacle. Once Sweeney was dismissed, Vale did dominate possession but their delivery to the front two wasn’t up to par. It was frustrating for the watching fans. Credit to Darren Moore for shaking it up and giving Vale a more attacking shape for the second-half. Eventually that possession and pressure told. However, Vale really needed to make their dominance tell with more goals and their inability to do so nearly cost them two points. Thank goodness for sub Ronan Curtis!
The players
This was a decent all-round performance although it was frustrating at times in the first-half as Vale failed to feed the front men. However, things are starting to solidify – the Cole-Paton partnership continued to show much promise, Joe Gauci again confirmed his status as first choice goalkeeper, Ben Garrity adds another dimension to the midfield. I thought George Byers had one of his better games with some clever passing. Sub George Hall also enjoyed a bright debut with pace and skill. The Mansfield goal came down the left flank where Connor Hall was deputising for the injured Gordon – perhaps Darren Moore will rue not having a wingback on the bench? However, we have to end with a final word for sub Ronan Curtis who was lively throughout and ultimately the match winner.
Star man
Devante Cole – though he was pushed hard by sub Ronan Curtis.
Summing up in a sentence
Cole and Curtis secure the points.
Match stats
Team: Gauci – Humphreys, Debrah (Faal), C.Hall – Gabriel, Croasdale (Curtis), Byers, Gordon (Heneghan) – Garrity – Paton (G.Hall), Cole (Brown)
Subs: Marosi, Ojo
Yellows: Ruari Paton, Liam Gordon
Reds: none
Goals: Devante Cole (53), Ronan Curtis (95 pen)
Attendance: 9,013 (1,879 visitors)
Season stats
Your thoughts…
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3 welcome points. Welcomed the half time attacking subs from ultra defensive managerMr Moore but to be fair playing against 10 men we did not need 5 at the back.. Cole is a fox in the box .Thought Gabriel was fantastic down the right. Match winner Curtis been through a tough spell but again was quality today and stepped up with the penalty. Improvement is needed but it’s great to get that monkey of our back with first home league win.Onto whatever Arsenal 11 turn up on Wednesday. I reckon Arteta has borrowed Moores tombola….let see. Shock on the cards? Come on Vale!
The Vale got out of jail today with a very soft penalty decision in the last minute. Mansfield to their credit frustrated the vale who thought the only route to goal was by getting to the bye line and cross the ball all to no avail in the first half. Ruari Paton’s quick strong cross which created Vale’s first goal was the only direct play up to that point but then we decided to play keep ball and go across and backwards while the rain poured down. Surely in such difficult conditions the better strategy would be to shoot even from distance because their keeper would not be able to hold the ball and pick up the pieces. Mansfield showed us how to do this with a shot from an angle on the edge of the box something we did not try in the monsoon. Ronan Curtis had the right idea to run at their defence and get a shoot away. He got lucky running into their box only to be pushed to the ground to get a soft penalty obviously influenced by the conditions which you have to master first and use to your own advantage!
All round, a good day for supporters. Having being punished by conceding stoppage time goals in previous games, today’s vital win was karma as Curtis struck home his late penalty. With fine tuning to his selection, there’s more to come from Moore’s well covered squad which I rate more than good enough to secure League 1 safety. Particularly encouraging was today’s 9,000 gate. Yes Mansfield brought 1,800, but with form consistency the Vale can look forward to healthy crowds. With support holding up, it’s a far cry from the club’s return to the third tier in 1986 when I recall paltry home crowds averaged around 3,300. How John Rudge built the club from that base was astonishing, and legendary.
Personally I thought Moore got out of jail again. We did have the vast majority of play which was to be expected playing the majority of the game against ten men, but we seemed void of ideas on how to win the game. As I said I wasn’t over the moon with the selection of Garrity and Byers ahead of Ojo and Walters, and then to take off Croasdale left a big hole in the middle of the park. As mentioned it also seemed strange to put so much emphasis on wingbacks, sign 9 of them then have none on the bench? Sadly I can’t agree with Rob on Byers having one of his better games, whenever he plays the entire team has to pamper to him and his style of play. It just slows the game down too much and gives teams time to reorganise and get behind the ball in numbers. Cole continues to show his ability to find space in important parts of the pitch something we’ve not had for a long time especially at this level, I was also impressed with Hall, he had a bit of pace about him quick feet and showed an old head on him when winding the clock down. This is a decent squad we have when you consider who wasn’t involved, but the club has chosen to go with a lot of decent players instead of fewer good players like in JR’s day.
Can I just mention the leaking roof in the Railway Paddock. We already had one leak which is just right of the halfway line (looking at the pitch) which has been there for many years, before the main cascade left of the halfway line (looking at the pitch, which appeared to be the downspout coursing that), decided to soak a number of poor souls sitting underneath it. Our chief executive or whatever he is Mr Hancock, did an interview on radio Stoke in August, stating the club spends millions on maintaining the ground each year. He went on to say a lot of this work goes unnoticed by the supporters then highlighting £50k spend on fixing a hole in the roof on the Railway Paddock in the summer. May I suggest that they look for these holes in the roof when it’s raining (they’re easier to spot them) and not in the middle of the hottest and driest summer in 2000 years. Also Mr Hancock defended no longer producing a match day programme after the club had been sustaining £30,000 yearly losses over a number of seasons, (don’t print so many then) although much smaller clubs than ourselves are successfully able to produce one. Mr Hancock defended his decision by plucking a figure of 200 sales out of the air on a usual match day, he THEN (so I’m told) has 5000 printed off for the Gillingham match promotion special issue, of which (so I’m told) over 3000 went unsold. May I suggest Mr Hancock isn’t very good at his job !
Why can’t Vale produce their own strikers through their much vaunted academy system instead of recruiting mediocre loan players-answers on the back of a postcard please.
Just one off the cuff. Would it be possible for the club or even onevalefan.co.uk to organise a bucket collection before the next downpour at Vale Park, even if we don’t collect enough money to fix the leaking roof we just might have enough buckets to catch the water in !
Why was Hancock appointed was an insult to Colin Garlick who did a great job. 3pointsand Byers slows everything to snails pace. To leave Walters out is mind-blowing.