Match Thread: POS2 Port Vale v Swindon Town

[Coyney Valiant]

Just now, Coyney Valiant said:

And get rid of the ace of fecking spares 

Spades 

[ollyandpatch]

3-0 Vale see you all at Wembley..

[Joe B]

Whatever we think of the ref on Sunday (I think he was decent), we were committing a number of fouls which went unpunished early doors; Charsley committed three in the first half alone before getting booked, and looked to be on his way to a red before his substitution. I can see the argument from their manager. We put in some poor challenges, including one that Gibbons was very lucky to get away with.

They also over-acted/dived a fair bit. I definitely don't think the ref was overly-poor for either side. He certainly had very little to do with the result.

[Raveninblack]

5 minutes ago, Joe B said:

Whatever we think of the ref on Sunday (I think he was decent), we were committing a number of fouls which went unpunished early doors; Charsley committed three in the first half alone before getting booked, and looked to be on his way to a red before his substitution. I can see the argument from their manager. We put in some poor challenges, including one that Gibbons was very lucky to get away with.

They also over-acted/dived a fair bit. I definitely don't think the ref was overly-poor for either side. He certainly had very little to do with the result.

I think Mckirdy was like a five year old and trying to wind up Connor Hall and tge ref should have had a strong word with him: luckily Hall is more of a strong personality than the squirt is but we have to be very careful that it doesn’t start again on Thursday?

[rob1983]

All of his Vale goal posts? So that's both of them then...

No liking his Swindon goals he scored against us. You know his boyhood team.

[DazFred]

Wo

7 minutes ago, rob1983 said:

1 hour ago, DazFred said:

All of his Vale goal posts? So that's both of them then...

No liking his Swindon goals he scored against us. You know his boyhood team.

Wow...I find that quite staggering. Why would you like goals scored against your boyhood team?

[Rocky]

40 minutes ago, Joe B said:

Absolutely fundamental that we start well. When we were a really good side in October/November, we'd have sharp, intense spells of pressing before tiring and sitting deep. We need a strong opening 20 minutes tomorrow. An early goal will rattle them and lift the fans, making it a cup-tie sort of game which could go either way.

If we start slow, the fans will grow tense/restless, and they will start to control the ball in the middle, slowing the game down and most likely see out a result that's enough to go through. Vale fans are electric when things are going well but soul-sapping when it's not good. Not sure why, we're just a reactive crowd who feeds off the players' performances, rather than vice-versa.

We have to be at them from minute 1. It sounds trivial, but the pre-match needs to be structured better. Get the music right. Do not, under any circumstances, cut off The Wonder of You. Wildes, forever a PR man, managed to whip up fans in 12-13 with those silly flamethrowers. We can't be sat there, quietely listening to Robbie as sprinklers hammer the pitch, 5 minutes before a huge game. Get Carol on the pitch or something. Fire Boomer out of a cannon. The 'buzz' has dwindled slowly over the last 5 games and we need it massively tomorrow. No daft queues at the turnstiles. Into these.

Proctor has to start. Absolutely no question. Unfit, he had more efforts on target in 30 minutes than the entire team did for the 60 minutes prior. He is always looking to shoot and makes us look a much, much better team as the ball sticks with him. For the first 20, bypass central midfield; Garrity and Charsley are that technically inferior to their counterparts in Swindon's midfield it's like watching them play a different sport. Garrity should be pushed up as a forward and Charsley spoils deeper. Do not give them time on the ball. Do not try and get Nathan Smith to build from the back. Get it to the wing-backs, get Wilson to come deep, or ping it into Proctor. No Garrity in possession, I beg!

Wingbacks; Gibbo had a disaster on Sunday but put him on his strong foot. He got forward a lot, just everything went wrong. For all of his flaws and disappointments, Benning is our best option on the left. He is steadyish and tries to get forward, despite doing very little when he gets there.

Stone

Smith Martin Hall

Gibbo Pett Charsley Benning

Garrity

Wilson Proctor

My main concern is that defensively we look like conceding most weeks; 2 clean sheets in 7 isn't very good. If we concede in the first half, I think we're finished. We'll be chasing frantically and they'll pick us off on the break. We simply don't have any good attacking options in reserve to change games late on, like we did with Politic.

Swindon are confident, and have every reason to be. They have a superb away record and a style of play that suits this sort of game; they have a lot of pace on the counter, and when needed can kill games through possession and going down easily. It's very effective. I do find some of the Vale fans obsession with their playacting a tad hypocritical considering we've been awful for it all season. Remember Lucas' weekly hamstring tears? It's football lads. Calm down.

Everyone seems obsessed with McKirdy, and he must appear in over 50% of this thread's posts. He's completely wound up most Vale fans, and he'll be delighted. Every touch will be booed and the fans, instead of chanting about Vale, will probably devote most chants to that dreadful "Vale boys, on a bender..." chant. Give him ammunition and he'll punish us. Half the lads on here are doing deep psychological analyses, wishing him genuine injury, deep-diving on the reasons he was released, or banging on about him spitting. If you're that emotionally incontinent that you can't handle a young lad doing a daft machine-gun celebration, having silly hair, and being quite good at football, then seek help. He's got you on strings at present. He played 8 games ffs, move on!

I feel like this game is massive; I don't share the confidence that next season will be inevitably better in an unrelenting march of progress, finishing top 3. Sometimes opportunities present themselves and serious clubs take them. This season, despite all of the difficulties we've faced, has been a huge opportunity to kick-start Vale's regeneration under Carol. We had a huge opportunity post-Hartlepool and failed to take it. We have a huge opportunity here and we don't have a single excuse.

The budgets of four teams in the league (Stockport, Salford, Bradford, and probably Wrexham) are going to be eye-watering next season, and whilst not a guarantee of success, there's a massively strong correlation between budget and league position. If you chuck the money around that these teams will, eventually you get lucky and get it right. It's become apparent that major investment is needed in Vale Park in the coming years and, from what I've heard, the needs are only going to magnify in scale. The investment made by Carol when Flitters and DC were appointed can't be repeated every summer. 

My gut feeling is that this goes to ET and penalties, and I don't like the sound of that at all. Start well, score inside 20, get the crowd rocking, and we have enough about us to bundle our way to Wembley. 

I cringe when I see those posts about McKirdy. I was rooting for him when he played for Vale, I remember watching him against Mansfield, last game of the season last year and I got the impression he knew he was on his way out, Clarke has no patience for liabilities and he would never have flourished under him.

The whinging about his celebrations and wanting to injure him are pathetic. We need to focus on our own players rather than theirs. If they sense it is winding you up they will do it even more. We are still in this tie and anything can happen. Proctor makes such a difference to the balance of the team when he is on the pitch. I agree with dropping Worrall, he has been ineffective, hasn't managed to get around the back, I think Gibbo makes more sense on the right and Benning pushing up on the left. Worrall's delivery hasn't been great this season, most crosses hit the opposition and they comfortably deal with it, he's definitely carrying. Nice to see Wilson get a poacher's goal on Sunday. 

We are only halfway through the tie and I still feel calm and confident there are still twists to be had tomorrow night, still a lot of football to be played.

[Doha]

[DazFred]

1 hour ago, ValeGez said:

‘Show Pony’s’ footballing ability was not the reason he was let go from Vale and let’s make that perfectly clear, he didn’t leave we let him go . 
He has arrogance issues, he doesn’t have the human criteria required to be employed at the Vale . Basically he doesn’t fit in, he’s a ‘non conformist’, pretty much like the ‘naughty kid in class’ , difficult to handle unless you’re prepared to put up with his antics which obviously Swindon are however quite a few others haven’t been . 

Will be interesting to see how or not his career goes after this season .
 

 

 

If he's arrogant then he's found a club where he belongs...same as the supporters

[Smugsy]

Vale have released information regarding leaving the ground after tomorrow's game. Basically Bycars Lane won't be accessible for a while. 

They also say Pyro Dogs will be at the game. Think I saw them at Glastonbury once.

[JSValiant]

52 minutes ago, Rampant Zebra said:

Some of the games in our 9 game unbeaten run you mean? 🙂

Adam Murray !!!

[Rory]

Haha fair play to him.

[ginge]

46 minutes ago, Smugsy said:

Vale have released information regarding leaving the ground after tomorrow's game. Basically Bycars Lane won't be accessible for a while. 

They also say Pyro Dogs will be at the game. Think I saw them at Glastonbury once.

What is a Pyro Dog? 😂

[JSValiant]

6 minutes ago, ginge said:

What is a Pyro Dog? 😂

It’s a McKirdy Hunter Terrier!

 

[Rampant Zebra]

28 minutes ago, ginge said:

What is a Pyro Dog? 😂

I suspect they are referring to a sniffer dog specifically trained to detect pyrotechnic devices, but what do I know? lol