Late goal kills off the Vale
Saturday 12th October 2013
Port Vale v Peterborough United
League One
6,311 including 662 visiting supporters At Vale Park
Attendance: Doug Loft,,Tom Pope, Sam Johnson,SUBS:. Lee Hughes Richard DuffyBen Williamson,, Jennison Myrie-Williams,Louis Dodds
In came Lee Hughes, Liam Chilvers and Anthony Griffith for Ben Williamson, Louis Dodds andJennison Myrie-Williams with Micky Adams planning to counter Peterborough's diamond shape in the middle of the park.
Micky Adams made three changes for the visit to Vale Park of one of the promotion favourites, Darren Ferguson's Peterborough United, following the mid-week Johnstone's Paint Trophy home defeat to Rochdale.
Bobby Olejnik, Craig Alcock, Gariel Zakuani, Michael Bostwick, Danny Swanson, Jack Payne, Britt Assombalonga, Grant McCann, Paul Taylor, Tommy Rowe, Tyrone Barnett. SUBS: Shaun Brisley, Joe Day, Danny Kearns, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, Nathaniel Knight-Percival, Jaanai Gordon, Mark Little PETERBOROUGH UNITED:
, Chris Birchall, Chris Shuker
Vale adopted their own diamond shape in midfield with Anthony Griffith at the rear, Chris Lines at the tip and Carl Dickinson and Doug Loft playing either side.
In sharp contrast to the midweek game against Rochdale, Vale were competing for every single ball and were more than willing to put the visitors on the back foot.
minute when Taylor slipped the ball through for Assombalonga, but the striker, who elected to shoot early, could only fire wide of the far post.thThe visitors first real opportunity came in the 12
minute, his name added to that of Anthony Griffith who had been yellow carded seven minutes earlier.ndCarl Dickinson picked up his fifth booking of the season in the 22
Vale were matching the visitors pass for pass, tackle for tackle and move for move but then Peterborough were denied a certain goal when Chris Robertson threw himself in front of a close range effort from Danny Swanson to keep the scores level.
The home side were certainly doing their share of the attacking and were looking more and more dangerous as the first half wore on, but they were still alert to the dangers the visitor were capable of causing.
A perfectly times tackle by Daniel Jones prevented Assombalonga from pulling the trigger after the Posh striker had raced through the middle.
A Vale free kick early in the second half came to nothing, eventually culminating with a fairly simple save by Olejnik under his crossbar.
Tom Pope forced the Peterborough ‘keeper to go down quickly to his left to save a 25 yard low drive with the Valiants still looking dangerous whenever they went forward.
Chances were few and far between, but the game was far from dead as a spectacle with half chances being created at both ends of the pitch and with twenty five minutes remaining, it was still anybody’s for the taking.
minute, Micky Adams opting for the fresh legs of Ben Williamson, who came on to replace the tiring Lee Hughes.stVale made a substitution in the 81
GOAL: found space inside the Vale box and smashed the ball past Chris Neal to put the visitors in front.TYRONE BARNETT minute when thBut it was the visitors who broke the deadlock in the 86
Vale responded with a double substitution – Dickinson and Griffith being replaced by Louis Dodds and Chris Birchall.
Running out of time, there was little Vale could do to level the scores, but despite the defeat, they must be pleased with the overall performance.