The Valiants are aiming to make it back-to-back home wins as Crawley travel to Vale Park
Recent clashes with Crawley | WDWWW
Last time
Sky Bet League Two, Vale Park, Saturday 12th September 2020, Port Vale 2-0 Crawley Town
The Vale started the game brightly, spreading the play well and working the ball into some decent attacking areas, winning a corner with five minutes played, but Nathan Smith failed to hit the target with his header.
As the game entered the 12th minute, Vale had the first decent chance of the game as a corner tactic saw the ball pulled back to an unmarked Devante Rodney on the edge of the area, but he couldn’t wrap his foot around the ball and scuffed his efforts.
The next good chance also fell Vale’s way, with David Worrall getting the ball under pressure after a ball into the box by Rodney, but failed to get any power behind his shot.
With the game entering the 20 minute mark, action burst into life, first with Mark Cullen having a free, diving-header saved well by Glenn Morris before the visitors ran down the other end of the pitch and had a brilliant chance of their own, as Scot Brown did well to deny Tyler Frost’s powerful effort.
Rodney tried something very special as the half entered its final 15 minutes, as he turned his man and hit a curling effort from 30-yards out, but his speculative effort dipped just too high and wide of the far top corner.
Soon after Vale had a big shout for a penalty waved away by the referee after Smith rose for a header in the Crawley area but appeared to be bashed in the face by the Red Devils’ defender, but the decision was not given.
Vale finally were able to break the deadlock and take a deserved lead just before the half entered it’s final five minutes, as Devante Rodney unleashed his inner Gareth Bale, rolling his man exceptionally and driving forward with pace and power down the wing.
He stood up against his final man, knocked the ball past him and beat him for pace before drilling a low cross into the area where Mark Cullen was there to rocket home the ball home to give the Vale the lead.
Right at the end of the first-half Tom Conlon had a golden opportunity to double the Vale’s lead, as the ball was crossed into Vale’s number 10 at the back post, but he couldn’t direct his free header on target.
It took five minutes for the first chance of the second period and it went Crawley’s way, an exquisite cross ball switch launched the attack which saw the ball pulled back to the edge of the area where a thunderous effort was hit at goal but Brown was able to make a top save, before catch the ball from another attempt two minutes later.
The following period of play saw both teams continue to cancel each other out and fail to generate any chances, with Nathan Smith cutting out the most promising attack with a header back to Brown.
Vale had to wait until the 63rd minute for their first attempt of the second-half but it was nearly well worth the wait, as Conlon flicked the ball back from the by-line and volleyed across goal just past the far post.
Crawley nearly levelled things up just minutes after as they had an effort cleared off the line by David Fitzpatrick.
That clearance would prove key for the Vale as they went down the other end of the pitch and doubled their lead, with Cullen doubling his tally for the day.
Conlon picked up the ball on the edge of the area and curled a beautiful effort towards the far top corner but was denied by the post, however Cullen was in the right place to collect the ball, steady himself and emphatically drill the ball into the open net from point blank range.
Conlon continued to come close to getting on the scoresheet in the 77th minute as the ball was worked through to him and he tried to round the keeper but the on-rushing Morris was too close for Conlon to beat him and find the net.
In the 87th minute Cristian Montano nearly made a big impact off the bench, beating his man really well to head towards the bottom corner, only to be denied by a fantastic Morris save.
Morris was called into action yet again soon after as Scott Burgess tried a close-range dink but was also denied by the Crawley stopper.
Port Vale: Brown, Mills, Legge, Smith, Fitzpatrick, Joyce, Conlon, Burgess, Rodney 78’ Montano), Worrall, Cullen (83’ Robinson)
Unused Subs: Crookes, Oyeleke, Brisley, Whitehead, Visser
Crawley: Morris, Davies, Doherty, Craig, Tunnicliffe, Francombe, Frost (68’ Nichols), Ferguson, Ashford (68’ Hessenthaler), Powell, Nadesdan
Unused Subs: McGill, McNerney, Allarakhia, German, Galach
Classic fixture
Sky Bet League Two, Vale Park, Saturday 18th August 2018, Port Vale 1-0 Crawley Town
During the early exchanges, it was the Valiants who looked the brighter of the two teams as they pressed for an opener. Ricky Miller almost found himself one-on-one with Glenn Morris just two minutes into the game, but Josh Doherty got across to challenge the striker and cut out the long ball.
With 12 minutes played, debutant Mitchell Clark carried the ball down the left wing to thread a driven pass through to Miller’s feet. The striker then turned expertly on the edge of the area before letting fly, but his effort was comfortably dealt with by the visiting ‘keeper.
As the half wore on, Vale continued to dictate proceedings and they were rewarded on 20 minutes as Luke Hannant struck from six yards. David Worrall did see his initial effort well saved by Morris following a well-worked move, but the midfielder was on hand to tuck the rebound home despite close attention from a defender.
Another neat build-up then carved open the Crawley back line on 30 minutes, with Manny Oyeleke the architect of the move after winning possession on the halfway line. He then sprayed a ball out to Worrall who delivered towards Tom Pope, but he was unable to direct his header on target.
The next chance presented itself on 37 minutes and it fell to the away side against the run of play. but Lewis Young could only direct his strike onto the post from a tight angle. Filipe Morais then took aim from range five minutes later, only to see his powerful drive career just wide of the far post.
Following the restart, Crawley came out searching for an equaliser and they mounted a few attacks early in the half, but Vale’s defence was able to stand firm. Young did send a looping header on target on 51 minutes, but it was never troubling Scott Brown and he was on hand to make a routine save.
The Red Devils began to look more threatening as they got the ball forward to Ollie Palmer, and the big striker had a low strike blocked by Connell Rawlinson on 67 minutes. The centre-half was then Vale’s saviour just two minutes later, again thwarting Palmer from inside the six-yard box with a brave interception.
Clark was the next player to deny the away side a clear sight of goal with a quarter of an hour still to play. A prolonged spell of Crawley pressure eventually saw Reece Grego-Cox send in a deep cross, but before an attacker was able to get a shot away, Clark got across to make a last-ditch challenge.
With Harry Kewell's men forced to throw bodies forward in attempt to salvage something from the contest, Vale profited on the counter-attack and Pope almost doubled his side's advantage two minutes from time. Scott Quigley and Worrall linked up to work the opportunity, but Morris made a sprawling save.
Port Vale: Brown, Gibbons, Legge, Rawlinson, Clark, Worrall (Quigley 78), Joyce, Oyeleke (Kay 37), Hannant, Pope ©, Miller (Dodds 62’).
Unused Substitutes: Hornby, Vassell, Smith, Kanu.
Crawley Town: Morris, Young (Nathaniel-George 71), Doherty, Connolly, Grego-Cox (Camara 77), Palmer, Francomb, Vincelot ©, Bulman (Randall 77), Morais, Milsom.
Unused Substitutes: Mersin, Payne, McNerney.
