Port Vale’s Easter fixtures ended on a losing note as they lost to Northampton Town at the Sixfields stadium.
Team news
Port Vale manager Darren Moore made one change to his starting line-up. Highly rated teenager Baylee Dipepa was added to the team after James Wilson picked up an injury against Bristol Rovers. Uche Ikpeazu made the bench again after his return from injury.
First-half
Played in sunny conditions, the match got off to a bright start with both sides having some good passages of play. Northampton had the first chance when Hoskins was found in the box but his volley went wide. The Valiants then had a good opportunity when Loft charged down a clearance and found Chislett in the box but his low shot was well saved. Chislett then showed another side to his game with a good saving tackle to deny Hoskins after the home side broke.
Northampton then enjoyed a period of pressure before a good break by Dipepa on 15 minutes found Chislett but he crossed when he should have shot. However, that chance aside, Vale were often holding on at the back at times as Town pressed for the opener.
On twenty minutes, Vale created some pressure of their own. A poor clearance was seized upon by Chislett. His shot was parried but Dipepa was unable to get the rebound.
The game drifted a little until the home town broke from midfield on 33 minutes. Pinnock strode onto it and confidently finished past Ripley to put Northampton into the lead. Vale countered on 39 minutes but Garrity’s header went over when he should have found the target.
So, Vale would be disappointed at the break as they’d had a few decent chances but they now needed to come back strongly in the second forty five.
Half-time: Northampton Town 1-0 Port Vale
Second-half
There was a double change for Vale as the second-half began with Conor Grant and Jenson Weir coming on for James Plant and Ethan Chislett. However, the first chance fell to Northampton with Leonard nearly chipping Ripley.
Vale’s first chance was a shot by Nathan Smith on 54 minutes from a Debrah long throw. There was a further double change for Vale on the hour mark with Jesse Debrah being replaced by Gavin Massey and Uche Ikpeazu coming on for Ryan Loft.
The Valiants had been unable to build any pressure in the opening twenty minutes of the half. Vale finally pressed on 65 minutes when they had appeals for a penalty when Massey went down in the box and Sang put in a great cross which was inches away from a Vale head.
Ten minutes later, there was a golden opportunity when Ikpeazu broke but the home goalkeeper pulled off a fine one-on-one save.
The Valiants would rue that miss as the game drew to a close. In injury-time, with Vale pushing, Northampton broke and sub Tyrese Simpson beat Sang and passed for an unmarked McWilliams to calmly finish past Ripley and make the game safe.
It had been a scrappy game and with Vale unable to take advantage of three decent chances they finished the ninety minutes with nothing for their troubles.
Full-time: Northampton Town 2-0 Port Vale
Closing thoughts
This wasn’t a terrible performance from the Valiants but they did let the game drift at times. Northampton were in the lead by then and a period of calm suited them. Vale players put in patches of good play – but there wasn’t one player who took the game by the scruff of the neck. Meanwhile, there were some nervy moments at the back mainly involving Connor Ripley who was nearly chipped and who had a couple of clearances closed down.
Port Vale’s forward weakness was exposed at times – Dipepa lacks experience, Loft lacks quality and Ikpeazu lacks fitness. It was ironically a game which was calling out for a moment of class from the likes of James Wilson.
Results elsewhere mean that Vale’s fate is still in the balance, but they face arguably tougher challenges in their closing fixtures and if they want to take anything from those matches, they will need to up their game and take their chances.
Please note the following stats components may take a little while to update after the final whistle
Match stats
Port Vale: Ripley – Debrah (Massey), Smith, Iacovitti – Sang, Ojo, Garrity, Plant (Grant) – Chislett (Weir) – Dipepa (Walters), Loft (Ikpeazu)
Unused subs: Leutwiler, Lowe
Vale bookings: Garrity, Weir
Vale goals: none
Attendance: 6,739 (736 visitors)
Atrocious effort from majority of the team, looked out on their feet. A bit of an anti climax after Friday. Major improvement in all positions needed for Wigan. To coin Moores favourite phrase “i’m disappointed” ,too. Must do 100% better.
same old story toothless up front and concede from two misplaced passes,its going to be touch and go whether we stay up,and we will need a few results to go our way…..oh well while theres still hope we must carry on believeing UTV….VTID
It’s going to be touch and go if we go down It’s because we haven’t been good enough and you shouldn’t have to rely on other teams around you keeping you up through their bad results if we stay up the quality of recruitment needs to be sorted out or else what will it be same again It’s getting a bit of a trend but anyway UTV