The Valiants have the chance maintain their unbeaten start to action across the 2020/21 campaign and start off our league season with a win when we welcome Crawley Town to Vale Park. With the game just a day away, we look back on two classic matches that the Vale have played against the Red Devils.
League One, Vale Park, Tuesday 1st April 2014: Port Vale 2-1 Crawley
The Vale continued their climb up the table and moved into 10th in the table with this victory after coming back from behind.
Crawley went in front from the penalty spot in the 35th minute when Billy Clarke scored after Rory Fallon had been brought down by Joe Davis. They held their lead until the break but just five minutes into the second period the Vale drew level through Billy Knott’s 20-yard effort.
Crawley were then reduced to ten men with 67 minutes on the clock when Dannie Bulman was sent off for picking up a second yellow card.
The game seemed to be drifting to a draw until the final minute when a Doug Loft shot was missed by Paul Jones in the visitors’ goal to clinch victory for the Vale.
In time added on Vale’s Chris Robertson was sent off after an altercation with Mark Connolly but it was mistaken identity, Chris Lines was the real perpetrator and went on to serve the suspension.
Port Vale – Johnson, Davis, Robertson, Duffy, D.Jones, Lines, Knott (Taylor 80), Loft, Myrie-Williams (Birchall 79), Tomlin (Hugill 78), Pope
Subs not used - Yates, Dickinson, Dodds, Griffith
Crawley Town – P.Jones, M.Connolly, Sadler, Drury, P.Connolly, Walsh, Simpson, Bulman, Fallon (Proctor 79), Clarke (Torres 82), M.Jones
Subs not used – Kaikai, Boateng, Monakana, Maddison, Dicker
Att. 3,755
League Two, Vale Park, Saturday 18th August 2018: Port Vale 1-0 Crawley
The Valiants scored the only goal of the game to take the lead after just 20 minutes played.
Tom Pope had a shot parried by Glenn Morris and Luke Hannant was on hand to score from the rebound.
Just after the half hour mark David Worrall sent over a pin point cross that Pope headed just over the bar before Lewis Young almost levelled before the break with a shot that grazed the post.
In the second-half Ollie Palmer had a shot saved by Scott Brown but Pope almost doubled Vale’s lead only to be denied by Morris.
Port Vale - Brown, Gibbons, Legge, Rawlinson, Clark, Worrall (Quigley 78), Oyeleke (Kay 78), Joyce, Hannant, Pope, Miller (Dodds 62)
Subs not used – Smith, Kanu, Vassell, Hornby
Crawley Town – Morris, Francomb, Connolly, Vincelot, Doherty, Morais, Bulman (Randall 76), Milsom, Young (Nathaniel-George 71), Grego-Cox (Camara77), Palmer
Subs not used – Payne, McNerney, Mersin
Att. 4,159