REPORT: Port Vale v Coventry City
Port Vale v Coventry City
Saturday 1st October 2016
At Vale Park
League One
Attendance: 5,605 including 604 visiting supporters
Vale’s proud one hundred per cent home record was left in tatters by bottom of the table Coventry City, who showed a determination that seemed to be lacking somewhat by the Valiants.
Vale were second to every ball and they struggled to impose themselves on a Sky Blues outfit who took a deserved lead in the 36th minute when Marvin Sordell struck from close range.
Vale hardly threatened a well-organised and hard-working Coventry side and it came as no surprise when the visitors hit a second when Chris McCann doubled their lead in the 72nd minute.
Vale made two changes for the visit of Coventry City, with Michael Brown coming in for the suspended Anthony Grant and the return of Jerome Thomas from injury saw Kjell Knops miss out, with Sam Hart dropping in at full back.
The home side began the game in what has become typical fashion, building up patiently at the back and getting in behind the visitors’ defence whenever the opportunity arose.
Bruno Ribeiro’s men needed to be patient with manager-less Coventry playing like you would expect after a club and their manager have parted company.
Vale had to be on their toes with their priority to start with being not to give their opponents any reason to build their confidence.
Despite the Sky Blues propping up the League One table, the Vale players had been warned what to expect, with the belief that Coventry are in a false position.
Remie Streete picked up a yellow card for a foul just outside the Vale 18 yard box in the 20th minute and the visitors almost made Vale pay when Turnbull met the free kick, only to see his header flash over the crossbar.
Moments later Coventry had the ball I n the Vale net, only to discover the referee had already blown to award them a free kick just outside the Vale area.
Daniel Agyei then tested Jak Alnwick with a low shot from 15 yards which the Vale ‘keeper managed to hold onto at the second attempt.
It was a good spell for the visitors, but it only served to lift the home crowd, yet Coventry were in no mood to sit back and let Vale come on to them.
Martin Paterson tested Coventry ‘keeper Lee Burge with a long range effort, but Vale needed to up their game if they were to record that seventh straight home win.
GOAL: Vale were certainly under-performing and they were undone in the 36th minute when Bigirimana was allowed to run into the box before switching the ball to his left form Marvin Sordell to fire home.
Vale made two changes at the beginning of the second half. On came Quentin Pereira for Michael Brown and Anton Forrester returned from injury to replace Jerome Thomas as Vale switched to 4-4-2.
Forrester looked to be struggling a little when he went down within five minutes of the restart and he soon needed treatment while play was stopped.
Unfortunately he was unable to continue and in the 53rd minute he limped off, with Gezim Shalaj coming off the bench to replace him.
Shelaj pushed out on the right flank, allowing Alex Jones to switch inside to form a strike partnership with Paterson.
The home side continued to struggle, looking a shadow of the side which had done so well at Vale Park since the beginning of the season.
Passes were going astray, sometimes falling short of their intended target, and Coventry continued to look menacing, causing unrest amongst the Vale faithful.
GOAL: Coventry doubled their lead on 72 minutes when Paulo Tavares gave away possession far too cheaply. The visitors moved the ball sharply and Chris McCann drove the ball past Alnwick to the delight of the travelling fans behind the goal.
Vale looked to have run out of ideas and the visitors’ ‘keeper Lee Burge had very little to do, with Vale looking like they had given up the ghost.xx
PORT VALE: Jak Alnwick, Ben Purkiss, Remie Streete, Paulo Tavares, Sam Foley, Martin Paterson, Jerome Thomas, Michael Brown, Nathan Smith, Alex Jones, Sam Hart. SUBS: Calvin Mac-Intosch, Anton Forrester, Kiko, Quentin Pereira, Miguel Santos, Sebastien Amoros, Gezim Shalaj
COVENTRY: Lee Burge, Jordan Willis, Jordan Turnbull, Gael Bigirimana, DanielAgei, Chris McCann, Lewis Page, Marvin Sordell, Andre Wright, Jamie Sterry, Ben Stevenson. SUBS: Ruben Lameiras, Jodi Jones, Vladimir Gadzhev, Sam Ricketts, Marcus Tudgay, Cian Harries, Corey Addai