The Valiants made it six unbeaten after being held to a late draw with Colchester United.
Vale started the contest brightly, as with only one minute played, Ethan Chislett broke forward from his own half into a dangerous area where he was taken down by scrambling U’s defender Rob Hunt. The South African came close from the resulting free kick, curling it just over the crossbar of the Colchester goal.
In a stop-start opening half-hour, it was difficult for either side to build momentum, but the Valiants dominated the ball and set their sights on an opener with efforts from Jayden Stockley and George Byers, but these caused little trouble for Matt Macey in the opposition net.
On 26 minutes Vale produced the game’s first shot on target. Tom Sang whipped a cross into the box which Stockley nodded goalwards, but Macey comfortably collected the ball.
Similar to the start of the first half, the Valiants came out flying after the break with two quickfire attempts in the 50th minute. First, half-time substitute Rico Richards teed up Stockley on the edge of the box who fizzed a shot narrowly over the crossbar. Then, Richards struck from a similar distance, however, a crucial Colchester touch deflected the ball behind for a corner.
In the 55th minute, Vale capitalised on their control of the game and broke the deadlock through Jesse Debrah. The half-time substitute towered above the Colchester defence to meet a deep corner from Chislett, and rooted Macey to the spot with a header into the far corner.
U’s captain Tom Flanagan attempted to respond just two minutes later with the visitors’ best chance of the game. Samson Tovide found space down the right and lofted a ball into the box which Flanagan latched on to, but he steered his header well over the bar.
The visitors enjoyed a period of pressure after Vale opened the scoring and close to finding a leveller through Arthur Read on 78 minutes when he dragged an attempt from the right narrowly wide of Connor Ripley’s near post.
The Valiants looked to have wrapped up the three points with four minutes left with a brilliant counterattacking move that ended with Lorent Tolaj smashing home the rebound of Ronan Curtis’ well-saved strike, but the striker was deemed to be offside.
In the 89th minute, Colchester managed to grab an equaliser courtesy of Tovide. Ripley parried away an initial Colchester shot, but it fell to Tovide who slotted into an empty net.
Tolaj nearly won it moments later for Vale as he displayed great skill to jinx past multiple U’s defenders and create time to shoot, however, a visiting player recovered well and blocked the forward’s shot, ending the match all even.
Port Vale: Connor Ripley, Ben Heneghan (Jesse Debrah 46’), Connor Hall, George Byers (Ryan Croasdale 31’), Ben Garrity, Jayden Stockley, Ethan Chislett (Lorent Tolaj 78’), Tom Sang (Rico Richards 46’), Kyle John, Brandon Cover, Antwoine Hackford (Ronan Curtis 46’)
Unused subs: Ben Amos, Ruari Paton
Colchester United: Matt Macey, Ellis Iandolo, Fiacre Kelleher, Tom Flanagan, Samson Tovide, Tom Hopper (John-Kymani Gordon 75’), Arthur Read, Anthony Scully (Jamie McDonnell 63’), Rob Hunt (Mandela Egbo 67’), Aaron Donnelly (Lyle Taylor 63’), Alex Woodyard (Jack Payne 63’)
Unused subs: Tom Smith, Ben Goodliffe
Author: Matt Carville, University of Staffordshire