Not all Vale debuts get off to the perfect start but here are five which did including a remarkable performance by little-known Fred Mitcheson.
So, first of all a note. There may be other players we have forgotten. But a reminder of the title “five of the best” – not – “the five best” – so we’re only offering some examples, not a definitive shortlist. If you think you have better examples, we’d like to hear your suggestions via the comments form.
Billy Kellock
He may only have had the briefest of Port Vale careers but the goalscoring midfielder had a truly memorable debut (just ask the OVF editor who was there). Signed by the great John Rudge in 1984, Kellock was brought in as cover due to injury to the influential Ray Walker. His debut came with Vale on a seven match winless run but Kellock was to help end it in style. The Glaswegian scored twice as Vale thrashed Exeter City 5-1. It was by far the most memorable game of Kellock’s brief spell. He has scored a more than handy four goals in 13 games before picking up a hamstring injury which saw him released at the end of the season.
Kellock heads home one of his two goals against Exeter City. Somewhere in the Lorne St crowd is the OVF editor
Sam Johnson
Like Kellock, goalkeeper Sam Johnson is another whose Vale career is chiefly remembered for his debut – and what a debut it was. Before the game, manager Micky Adams said the young keeper would “sink or swim” – and it was definitely the latter. Johnson’s first game came old enemy Walsall. It came in a Football League Trophy group game which finished 2-2 before the game went to penalties. In a marathon shootout, both teams took 22 attempts meaning that all of the playing eleven, even the goalkeepers, had to take one. When the sudden death round came to the keepers, Johnson had already saved three Walsall attempts before stepping up to slot the ball home for the winner. What a way to start your Vale career!
John Froggatt
Probably the quickest impact from a debutant comes from forward John Froggatt who joined the club for a £10,000 fee in February 1978. Just fifteen seconds into his first game, the striker netted the first goal in a comprehensive 4-0 win over Exeter City. It was the high point of Froggatt’s Vale spell. He soon picked up an injury and added just two more goals that season before being sold to Northampton Town the following season.
Louis Dodds and Rob Taylor
The long serving Dodds got his career off to the perfect start. Not only did he net on his debut – it was also Vale’s first goal of the season to boot. But he wasn’t the only one celebrating – fellow debutant Rob Taylor also scored in a 3-1 victory at Luton Town in 2008. An opening away win and two debutants scoring – season starts probably don’t get much better than that!
Fred Mitcheson
We’ve saved the best till last with what we think is the only example of a hat-trick on debut. Striker Mitcheson was signed from Wolverhampton Wanderers’ junior ranks so he was making his first ever appearance in senior football when he was picked in Vale’s eleven for their home game against Plymouth Argyle in April 1934. What’s even more remarkable is his three goals came in three minutes, the fastest known hat-trick for the club. That’s some stats – a hat-trick on your senior debut and the club’s fastest hat-trick to boot. It must have stuck in the opponents’ memory as a year later Argyle signed him from the Valiants!
Image: www.greensonscreen.co.uk
My uncle was linesman for the John Froggatt game, sat in the Railway paddock stand. Think it was a night game.
What about Ralph Hunt? He joined Port Vale in December 1961 after manager Norman Low paid out a £3,500 fee. He turned up on a motorbike ten minutes before the kick-off on 16 December, before he got onto the pitch to make his Vale Park debut against Shrewsbury Town – he then scored a hat-trick in what was a 4–1 victory for the “Valiants”. Despite securing six goals in 14 games he lost his place in March and was sold on to Billy Lucas’s Newport County for a £2,000 fee in July 1962. Best centre forward I’ve seen in my time supporting the Vale. Shortly after the hat-trick rumours circulated about his sensuality and no-one was surprised when he got sold.
Thanks Stuart Dean – that’s worthy of a story in itself.