It’s now just one goal in their last five games for the struggling Valiants as they had to settle for a point at home. Here’s our match report…
Team news
Manager Darren Moore made some big calls for this game with the headlines being – dropping Connor Ripley for Ben Amos, Jesse Debrah for Nathan Smith and the return of captain Ben Garrity in midfield. Lorent Tolaj, Ronan Curtis and Rico Richards started upfront. Former Valiants Matty Taylor and Tom Pett were on the visitors’ bench.
First-Half
It was honours even at the break, but home fans would have been buoyed by a better Vale performance than recent games.
The Valiants started brightly with Ronan Curtis and Lorent Tolaj linking up well. Good work from Tolaj set up Kyle John for an early chance then Curtis twice put in good crosses which narrowly avoided Tolaj’s head. There was a further chance for John on 38 minutes which went just wide before Vale’s best chance of the half. Tolaj set Curtis free and he ran into the box only for his drive to be well saved. From the resulting play, Tolaj went narrowly wide with an acrobatic effort.
Visitors Cheltenham had chances too with the best falling for dangerman Colwell. He forced Amos into a decent save on 22 minutes and had another effort, from a tight angle, saved. Cheltenham also saw an effort from Luke Young go well over.
It was by no means vintage Vale but it was certainly an improved performance with Kyle John, Ronan Curtis and Lorent Tolaj all impressing while the return of influential captain Ben Garrity cannot be underestimated.
Half-time: Port Vale 0-0 Cheltenham Town
Second-Half
It was a poorer, more disjoined second-half showing from the Valiants. They were grateful for a solid performance from keeper Ben Amos as the visitors arguably had the better of the second 45 minutes.
The visitors started the half brightly with Thomas having three attempts in a row. There were further efforts from Young, which Amos saved well, and a header from Stubbs that produced an even better save from the Port Vale keeper.
The Valiants were struggling to get into the game so Darren Moore made two changes on the hour mark. It was no surprise to see Garrity, back from injury, replaced but the decision to replace the bright and busy Tolaj was odd and greeted by boos.
The Valiants had a brief period of pressure on 69 minutes. Good pace from Hackford saw him break clear on the right and feed Curtis whose powerful shot was well saved. A minute later a Curtis corner was palmed over by Town keeper Day.
There was a late free-kick from sub Paton that went narrowly wide and there were appeals for a penalty late on but that was it as the game largely petered out into a goalless draw. While it’s not a catastrophic result for the Valiants, it will not ease the pressure on manager Darren Moore with a visit to promotion chasing Doncaster Rovers next to come.
Full-time: Port Vale 0-0 Cheltenham Town
Summary
Darren Moore continues to ring the changes but not many fans will disagree with the logic behind the ones for this game. Connor Ripley and Jesse Debrah had both struggled and it was logical to replace them with Ben Amos and Nathan Smith while the return of captain Ben Garrity was a no brainer.
However, with Vale struggling for goals it was odd to see the impressive Lorent Tolaj replaced on the hour mark. The Swiss striker has been linking well with the likes of Ronan Curtis up till that point.
While it was a brighter first-half performance, this side are still a pale shadow of the team earlier this season and created very little in the second 45 minutes. A draw was probably a fair result. Vale need to find goals and one way would be to allow forward players time to develop partnerships. The link-up between Tolaj and Curtis was decent and arguably Moore should persist with the pair for the next game and not tinker too much.
Players
Lorent Tolaj looked far more comfortable playing in a central position and linked up well with the energetic Ronan Curtis. It was a surprise to see the Swiss forward replaced on the hour mark.
Rico Richards had flashes of skill but needed to be involved more in the second forty five. Both wingbacks pushed forward well with John having two chances. Meanwhile the returns of Nathan Smith and Ben Garrity solidified the defence and midfield respectively while Amos was a reassuring presence in goal.
Amos was a contender for man of the match along with Nathan Smith, who was the sponsors’ man of the match, but for me Curtis, who was at the heart of all of Vale’s best moves, was the side’s best player on the day.
Stats
Starting XI: Amos – Smith (Hart), Heneghan, Hall – Cover, Croasdale, Garrity (Chislett), John – Richards, Tolaj (Hackford), Curtis (Paton)
Subs: Ripley, Lowe, Clark
Goals: none
Bookings: Hall, Croasdale
Attendance: 5,873 (224 visitors)
Competition: League Two
What did you think of the game and the performance? Scroll down and submit a comment.
0-0 , but at Least the Overall performance was better. The return of Smith and Garrity seemed to improve certain areas. Man of the Match was Curtis who was also vale’s best forward player.
Better performance today but still crying out for a decent goal poacher. I thought Nathan Smith had a good game and consequently our defence didn’t look so fragile from long balls forward and set pieces. Hopefully we will start to see a more sett;ed team from now on.
Not good enough. A lucky point. If Tolaj wasn’t injured cannot understand why he was subbed, he was the best of the front 3 and quite rightly the boos rang out from the Hamil end towards the manager. Tough luck on Tolaj that his number was pulled outof the tombola by Mr Moore. Good to see Ben G back. Nil nil against a team whiich shipped 5 goals the other day, doesn’t cut it for me. Giving Paton 5 minutes at the end…ridiculous. Times up Moore ,pack up and go. Meter is still running on that taxi!
Just no answers 🙁
Stick with same line up for next game but can’t see it happening. We are not as up to early December the same team. Its all down to the manager and he as got to go. How can Garrity be match fit with no reserve team.
A much better balance to the team today with both flanks being used by Cover and John. The problem remains in the final third where we are clueless, Tolaj simply isn’t good enough, can’t understand why he wasn’t replaced at half time? Great to see Garrity back and Smith should start every game. Let’s hope this is the start of our recovery. Keep the faith.
Very well balanced match report. Moore’s starting eleven looked promising, although I don’t know why he always persists with three CB’s. Obviously prefers to play without defensive full backs. Overall another disappointing performance and result, and successive 0-0 home draws against poor opposition The season’s simply falling away, impetus lost, drifting down the table, with today’s holiday attendance plummeting.
A decent first half followed by a poor second. Amos was solid , and made a few good saves. Smith had a good game on his return to the side , but whatever hope we had of winning was ripped away by the substitution of Tolaj, and after that we retreated into our own half. Garrity did well , and 60 mins was enough for him. I’d almost guarantee that we will not have the same side at Doncaster. Moore comes across as a nice man , but I have a feeling we’ll be 5th from bottom in May , because he doesn’t know how to motivate a side during a game. We can’t pass a ball to save our lives. It’s pathetic to watch . With all that money spent ,1 goal in 5 is simply no good. He needs to be sacked.
All season Moore has refused to even consider changing his goalkeeper, he’s treated Smith like a leper refusing to even put him on the bench. Due to Moores over defensive tendencies Garrity has been shackled with a ball and chain as the defensive midfielder, and we’ve persisted in this playing out from the back and use the keeper as on outfield player. For some reason everything has changed, could it be after the anger and abuse that was hurled at Moore and the players at the end of the Grimsby game, could Moore is fearing for his job? Were all these changes made in an attempt to appease the fans, because almost everything fans have been crying out for arrived on New Years Day! As for the game Smith did what Smith does, he’s the best man marker in this league and should never have been left out of the team. Garrity to me is a true soldier, whether fit or not he will play anywhere and any time when asked. Just to have him playing behind the forwards again makes us look so much more positive. Another positive, getting the ball forward a bit quicker and none of this ridiculous playing out from the back and trying to play keep ball in our own half, it just puts pressure on yourselves. Negatives, Croasdale is been left with far to much ground to cover by himself and we are desperate for Stockley to return. And wouldn’t it be nice to threaten from set pieces the odd occasion!
I thought the performance was better especially in the first half. I don’t like the three centre halves at the back. Hall for example, pulled out of position because John was still getting back. Second half particularly when Chislet came on, there were three Vale players around their winger. When we won the ball there was nobody in midfield to receive the pass. It’s very disjointed at the moment any half decent team would of turned us over today.
I thought it was a mediocre performance ; clearly Garrity has been brought back too early hence his substitution but thanks for replacing Ripley and Amos kept us in at the end
But a really tough game at Doncaster on Saturday but please keep a settled team and try to score at least one goal