Valiant effort sees lads through, after a short spell in the woods.
The 147 hardened fans that made the Valiant trip down into the woods of Gloucestershire could have been forgiven for thinking they’d stumbled upon the set of Hot Fuzz when they arrived in quaint Hamlet of Shortwood. However, the small village could have become more Midsomer Murders as far as Vale’s cup progress was concerned without the right attitude. The tight tardis-like changing rooms, small tracks to the ground and lack of stands could have shaken a lesser side. However, the steely professional mind-set of the players instilled into the lads by Micky showed itself from the moment Griff put his first crunching tackle in on Adam Mann. At times the game was scrappy and Vale struggled to get hold of play, however this was probably to be expected given the conditions. In the end, however, this was all academic as Vale put in a professional performance to oversee a 4-0 win over the scaffolders, painters and IT Consultants, to show their ‘byte’ and begin climbing their way to the lucrative 3rd round. Credit to both Shortwood and Vale.Shaun Crank