Vale fell to a narrow defeat to unbeaten Portsmouth at Vale Park, thanks to a first half Dane Scarlett finish.
In a match that saw the two teams’ first meeting since the turn of the century, it took just a single goal to separate the sides, in a match with not many efforts on goal.
Dane Scarlett hit the first blow of the match, racing through onto a Marlon Pack through ball, and after a couple of hesitations, he succeeded in dinking it over Jack Stevens to give the visitors the lead.
Darrell Clarke made just one change from the team that beat Burton Albion, with Funso Ojo coming back into the team for Lewis Cass.
Vale’s first effort of the game came through Mal Benning when he received the ball on the left-hand side in the 13th minute, but after driving down the pitch his long-range strike was blasted past the post.
Six minutes later the ball somehow didn’t end up in the back of Pompey’s net after an attack led to a visiting defender trying to clear the ball, but it smashes off his own teammate just over the bar.
10 minutes after conceding the opener, Ellis Harrison came close for the hosts when he rose highest to direct a looping header towards goal, but Josh Griffiths was equal to it.
Chaos then ensued minutes later, when a flurry of crosses went into the mixer for the Valiants, with the first two seeing potential fouls waved away, and the third seeing Connor Hall having a header just creep over the bar.
In a second period with minimal chances, former Pompey striker, Harrison, came closest in injury time directing a good header on target from a Gavin Massey cross, but Griffiths held on well.
Moments after the Harrison effort, Ojo then tried his luck from distance with a good strike, but it wasn’t to be for Vale on the day.
After a slow-paced second 45, injury time brought lots of chances with the final one falling to Joe Morrell who dragged an effort wide after good work from substitute Michael Jacobs.
Clarke’s Valiants won’t have long to wait to move on as they return to Vale Park for the first group game of the Papa John’s Trophy coming up on Tuesday against Stockport County.
Port Vale | Stevens, Walker, Hall (89’ Jones), Smith, Worrall (62’ Massey), Garrity, Conlon, Benning (62’ Hussey), Ojo, Harrison, Pett (62’ Small)
Unused Subs | Stone, Forrester, Charsley
Portsmouth | Griffiths, Ogilvie, Morrison (10’ Roberston), Raggett, Rafferty, Dale (76’ Mingi), Lowery (69’ Morrell), Pack, Curtis (65’ Jacobs), Scarlett (76’ Hackett-Fairchild), Bishop
Unused Subs | Piggott, Oluwayemi