A young Valiants side took a trip down the road to the Apex arena in Eccleshall to play Eccleshall FC in the The Staffordshire Senior Challenge Cup Second Round.
Eccleshall started well and a corner from Mitch Glover struck the post in the second minute. Four minutes later the home side opened the scoring when a long ball from the back saw Liam Hallam race clear and fire a shot past Dominic Brook from just inside the box.
Vale hit back when Jack Shorrock went on a mazy run inside on the left, beating two defenders but his low shot was blocked for a corner. At the other end, Brook did well to tip over a shot from Glover before Shorrock was forced to leave the field in the 29th minute with a leg injury. Former Vale youngster Luke Lewis laid the ball off for George Woodroofe to attempt a chip over Brook but the Republic of Ireland international stretched to keep the danger at bay.
Baylee Dipepa, who has 12 goals to his name this season, had a shot blocked as Vale attempted to get back into proceedings but Eccleshall were still dangerous and Ben Lomax cleared a shot from Kyle Diskin off the line. Vale skipper Dan Mahaffy was having a good game and after the interval, he broke clear to find Logan Cousins in space but his shot went wide of the mark. Dipepa set up Andrew Buah on the left and his shot was deflected onto the bar as Vale began to threaten more. Mahaffy also fired wide.
An Eccleshall corner was flicked against the bar and Callum Besford cleared an effort from Ryan Malbon off the line as Eccleshall finished the game strongly to seize the victory.
Eccleshall | Woolrich, Darlington, Woodroofe, Benton, Blaise, J. Minshall, Diskin (Malbon 71'), Glover, Hallam (Wellecombe 90), Robinson, Lewis (Kapend 62')
Unused subs | H. Minshall, Tomlin
Port Vale – Brook, Lomax, Besford, Bradbury-Allen, Brazier, Mahaffy, Trowers (Fisher 66'), Cousins, Dipepa, Buah, Shorrock (Sadiq 29')
Unused subs | Blight, Francis, Webb