Good workout for young Vale Reserve team
Bury 0 (0) v Port Vale 0 (0)
Wednesday 27 February 2013
Good workout for young Vale Reserve team
BuryReserves:Christian Dibble, Matt Cooke, Euan Holden, Jordan Melia, Tom Rouine, Valery Mezague, Tom Pratt, Regan Walker, Jonson Clarke-Harris (Mathew Prickett 63), David Nasiri, Sam Dickinson (Liam Bickett 70).Subs not used:
Port Vale Reserves: Ryan Boot, Joe Evans, Subs not used: Joe Hemmings, Macauley Davis, Luke Wright.Doug Price, Nathan Smith, Josh Croft (Elliott Osbourne 84), Jack Pryor, Jordan Hugill, Andre Herrem (Ollie Marland 77), Ricardo Swaby.Tom Morris (Dave Lander 90), Will Whieldon,
With injuries hitting the first team squad Vale fielded what was basically an U18 team plus 2 trialists up front against a slightly more experienced Bury team. Bury included recent signing Valery Mezague, a Cameroon international, and in goal was Christian Dibble son of ex Man City ‘keeper Andy. Vale’s trialists were Andre Herrem, a 25 year old Norwegian and 20 year old Jordan Hugill who hails from the NE and had a spell at theGlenn Hoddle Academy in Spain when he was 18 and has since played for Seaham and Whitby Town.
minute free kick awarded for a foul on Croft. The ball was delivered from the left side and found Price unmarked at the back post, unfortunately the ball swung away at the last minute and Price had to direct a looping header towards the far post and it dropped just over the bar. Bury came back and Boot was able to watch a cross drift past the post without being concerned.thBury started brightly with some good passing moves but the pitch condition meant that the many bobbles of the ball soon saw both teams being more direct. The first real chance came from a 7
Both Vale trialists were showing some nice touches and they combined when Herren’s persistence won the ball and he fed Hugill, whose 20 yard shot flew just over the goal. The best opportunity for the home team came after 23 minutes when Pratt was through on goal but Boot made a good save with his feet to deny him. The best chance of the half came to Vale though as on the half hour mark Morris’s cross found Price unmarked again and he should have beaten Dibble from 6 yards but the ‘keeper parried the header and the rebound saw Swaby following in; he could only get a touch of the head to a difficult ball and it hit the bar and was cleared to safety.
Whieldon saw a 25 yard effort collected by Dibble at the second attempt after saving at full stretch and Boot was able to watch 2 shots go well wide. Late pressure from Vale saw a Herren cross reach Croft but he was unable to get his shot away and Morris shot wide from distance with half time being reached without a goal.
Bury had the better of the early exchanges with Clarke-Harris seeing a powerful drive turned away by Boot for a corner and he then bulldozed through 2 tackles to see Boot advancing towards him; his chip looked good initially but didn’t drop in time and landed on the roof of the net.
On the hour mark a cross found Dickinson at the far post with Boot stranded but Price was on the goal line to clear the header to safety.
With 74 minutes gone Boot came to Vale’s rescue with a great save. Vale had conceded a free kick 25 yards out in a central position and Mezague’s shot was arrowing for the top corner until Boot flew across goal to claw the ball out and cling on the ball as he fell to the ground. Boot was in action again as he caught another long range effort that was launched down the slope. Vale nearly had the last say though as an attack saw a cross that caused problems and was only cleared to the edge of the area where Pryor volleyed it goalwards, only to see Dibble claim the ball at the foot of the post.
It was a very good performance by a young Vale side with both trialists showing skill, pace and physicality during the game and leaves the Reserves still with only one defeat so far this season.