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Port Vale v Southend United
At Vale Park
League One
Saturday 13th August 2016
Attendance 4,727 including 254 visiting supporters
A first half glancing header from Anton Forrester and a second half strike from Vale defender Remie Streete saw Vale record their first win of the season with a 2-0 win over Southend United.
It was the visitors’ third defeat in eight days, but they made Vale work hard for the three points, but despite that Vale were good value for the win.
There were five changes in the Vale line-up to face Southend United as the Valiants went looking for their first win of the new season, to add to the point they won at Bradford on the opening day of the season.
Ben Purkiss, Chris Mbamba, Sam Kelly, Anthony de Freitas and Anton Forrester were all missing from the starting eleven, whileRemie Streete, Paulo Tavares, Rigino Cicilia, JJ Hooper and Jerome Thomas all started the game.
Vale began the game brightly enough, pinning the visitors back inside their own half, with Paulo Tavares in particular looking busy for the home side.
Rigino Cicilia required treatment on his thigh twice in the opening ten minutes of the game, going down in the centre circle and then deep inside the Southend box, before he was helped off the pitch, with Anton Forrester taking up his position in the 11th minute.
David Mooney went close for the visitors when he sent an angled shot past Vale ‘keeper Jak ALnwick and also the far post, but the linesman had already spotted the Southend man control the ball with his hand before getting his shot in.
Adam Barrett then headed narrowly over the Vale crossbar from a set-piece, as if to warn Vale the Essex outfit were in no mood to sit back and let Vale have it all their own way.
The home side seemed to be creating more than they had in their opening two fixtures of the season, yet Southend ‘keeper Mark Oxley had little to do.
Vale seemed to grow in stature and in confidence as the first half went on and the visitors will have been relieved to survive a goalmouth scramble ten minutes before half time.
But then Vale ‘keeper Alnwick, wearing the captain’s armband, was called upon to make a brilliant reflex save, pushing a point blank header from Simon Cox away from under his crossbar.
If Vale had been rattled by that incident, they certainly did something about it, going up the other end to open the scoring just seconds later.
GOAL: The energetic Sam Foley produced a telling cross from the right and ANTON FORRESTER got above the visiting defence to send a glancing header past Oxley to give Vale a 40th minute lead.
Southend started the second half looking for an early equaliser and they almost got it when the ball came off the body of Nathan Smith before hitting the post and bouncing back out before being cleared.
Vale made a substitution in the 63rd minute, Jerome Thomas leaving the field to be replaced by Anthony de Freitas.
The visitors pressed hard for an equaliser, but it was Vale who hit the all-important second goal of the season in the 75th minute.
GOAL: Sam Foley’s 75th minute corner was headed back across goal by REMIE STREETE and Forrester knocked the ball back into the path of the Vale defender, who made no mistake from 12 yards.
Vale made a change in the 81st minute when Paulo Tavares was forced to go off and his place was taken by Quentin Pereira.
PORT VALE: Jak Alnwick, Calvin Mac-Intosch, Kjell Knops, Remie Streete, Anthony Grant, Paulo Tavares, Jerome Thomas, Sam Foley, Nathan Smith, Rigino Cicilia, JJ Hooper. SUBS: Ryan Boot, James Gibbons, Chris Mbamba, Quentin Pereira, Anthony de Freitas, Alex Jones, Anton Forrester
SOUTHEND UNITED: Mark Oxley, Ben Coker, Adam Barrett, David Mooney, Simon Cox, Steve McLaughlin, Will Atkinson, JakubSokolik, Jermaine McGlashan, Ryan Leonard, Jason Demeriou. SUBS: John White, Adam Thompson, Luke O’Neill, Adam King, Jack Bridge, Jason Williams, Ted Smith