Turner and Gibbons Celebrate Professional Contracts with Goals as Vale Win Comfortably
PORT VALE:, Omar Haughton.Brian Barton 68)Calum Ferrie, James Gibbons, Alex Morris (Charlie Walford 75), Billy Reeves, Mackenzie Faulkner, Luke Dennis (Ben Fraser 60), Chekaine Steele (Mike Calveley 79), Brad Ede, Dan Turner, Jonny Kapend (
SUBS NOT USED:Joe Slinn, Liam Mottram.
MORECAMBE:Nial Maher, Tim Cowley (Lewis Tomlinson 46), MatthewLivingstone (Jack Taylor 46), Alex Webb, Paul Dawson (Cyril Owalabi60), Darren McKnight, Luke Jordan, Charlie Bailey, Morgan Homson-Smith (Joel Drewery 46), Ben Hadley, Nathan Bondswell.
SUBS NOT USED:Max Povey.
Vale Reserves completed their season with a comfortable win at bottom club Morecambe with goals coming from both of the outfield players from the U18s that have been offered professional contracts for next season; Turner netting twice and Gibbons adding the third.
who had his back to goal 40 yards out; he turned and spotting the ‘keeper a few yards out of his goal hit a shot that left Maher watching as it flew past him inside the near post.TurnerVale were quickly on the front foot with a cross only being punched half clear landing at Steele’s feet, he found Kapend 2 yards out but a defender flung himself in front of the shot to avert a goal but Vale only took 5 minutes to get on the score-sheet with a spectacular effort. A Vale attack broke down midway in the Shrimpers half and the ball ran to
minute.th rose highest at the far post to head home from a long cross by Morris in the 19Gibbons to hook the ball home from close range to extend Vale’s advantage. Kapend was next to threaten but this time the ‘keeper made a good save. It only delayed the inevitable for another few minutes as TurnerAs Vale continued to press it was Kapend who again had a shot blocked but nothing came of the resulting corner. There were 14 minutes gone before Morecambe had their first effort but the resulting effort flew over the stand from outside the penalty area. Vale replied immediately as Haughton’s cross was deflected for
Morecambe almost pulled a goal back as Jordan made progress towards the Vale goal but when he was 12 yards out Faulkner made a great tackle to cleanly take the ball away from him. Vale were playing some very attractive fast football playing the ball through and around Morecambe’s defence with one and two pass moves. Turner was trying to complete his hat-trick and saw a close range shot blocked and then, after Turner was just beaten to the ball by Maher the clearance reached Ede whose 35 yard return shot was narrowly over.
Reeves was unlucky as a shot from a tight angle saw the ball deflect away from goal after hitting the ‘keepers’ outstretched foot; it fell to Ede whose shot was blocked and cleared. Ferrie was having a quiet afternoon but was called upon to save from Jordan and collect a deflected cross. Just before the break Turner brought a good save from Maher and from the corner Haughton played it short to Gibbons whose 25 yard shot went just wide of the far post.
Morecambe made 3 changes at the start of the second half and changed tactics to close Vale down quickly when they had the ball and although Vale still had the majority of the possession they were not making the same inroads as in the first half. Bailey attempted to copy Turner’s long range effort from the first half but lacked the required accuracy.
Substitute Barton almost added a fourth as he picked up a mis-kick on the edge of the box but his effort curled just over the bar as it dipped. Good work by Barton saw him feed Walford on the left and his low, driven cross elude everyone as it ran through the 6 yard box and out at the far post. The game ended with Gibbons having a shot blocked and Barton shooting straight at the ‘keeper as Vale had to be content with the 3 first half goals and a comfortable win.
Lindon Roberts – Port Vale Volunteers Group