FL2: Port Vale v Torquay United 28th August 2010

Sorry to pester you Nickgull but did we see the game out well?

Don't worry, Keyberry.

Err, personally, I'd say that Vale hit their best in a five minute spell, probably the 85th-90th minutes. That was when a long ball caught Nicho out, Marc Richards ran on, drilled it across the 6-yard box, and had Justin Richards been a few inches taller, it would have been 2-2, as his foot seemed inches from tapping the ball into the open net at the back post. The ball didn't go out of play, and a cross found m.Richards, whos header beat Bevan, but Ellis headed off the line. We cleared from then, but it seemed that Vale were dead after that. They didn't have any other chances.

Seeing the game out, our back five were very strong again, and for alot of the second half, Vale had possession, but weren't really causing too much trouble, so yeah, on the whole, I'd say we saw the game out pretty well.

It wasn't perfect or pretty at times today, but this was a good, solid performance against a team who have made an excellent start to their League campaign. And on their own patch too.

Stand out performers for me were Bevan, Zebs and Branston. Bevan made some terrific saves, and looks in excellent nick and form. Branston won almost every tackle and header and his positional sense really is superb. Zebroski led the line and gave the perfect away performance; holding the ball up and creating chances and making chances. He really is on fire at the moment. Wroe held things together in the middle, and I thought O Kane gave a wonderful 30 minute cameo with a performance full of poise, skill and purpose.

I agree that Benyon was poor today (especially for a player rumoured to be of interest to a Championship club!) He was outmuscled and seemed to have even more trouble staying on his feet than usual. But I can't agree that he was uninterested - his was surely just a simple case of a game in which nothing seems to go quite right.

It was sad to see the record go, but at least it came from a decent strike rather than some awful penalty decision or own goal. The round of applause from the Away End as the teams re-assembled was a touching and appropriate gesture for this impressive achievement.

A fair amount of noise from the 215 away fans. Not a massive turnout for a team in our sort of form, but a long old stomp from Torquay and other parts of the country where exiled fans are concentrated.

Must give a mention to Hamil Oatcakes, just round the corner from Vale Park. £1.60 for a bacon and cheese oatcake (cooked on the griddle in front of us as we waited) and a can of coke represented superb value in my book. Make sure to visit if we draw them in the Cup or the playoffs!

It was the usual M40, M42, M6 Toll and M6 Route up to Stoke today. Traffic wasn't too bad apart from the usual bottlenecks and the bank holiday idiots driving in the middle lane and causing untold frustration to people who know how to drive.

Thankfully the A500 is a bit like A38 and it bypasses most of Stoke as the A38 does for Plymouth. I've only been a couple of times to Stoke on Trent and it's a grim place. The town of Burslem (one of the six towns that make up Stoke) where Port Vale play has many examples of run down glimpses into it's Pottery history. The town hall is one of the nicer town halls I've seen. It's also the home town of Robbie Williams, Phil "The Power" Taylor, Lemmy from Motorhead and Molly Leigh the Witch!

I parked for 4 quid in the CO-OP car park which was a bit steep. 19 quid to get in was also a bit steep. London prices without the streets paved with gold. The Meat and Potato pie and Bovril were very good for £3.70 and constituted two of my five-a-day! Still it was first visit to Vale Park and I have to say it's a proper old school ground, it's just a shame that the rather impressive Lorne Road stand isn't complete and they've stopped installing seats from halfway line down. There's even the sorry sight of 10 bags of cement lined up in the bit with no seats. When it's finished it will look fantastic.

So on to the game. What a start we made. We used both flanks and Wroe strummed the midfield strings. One decisive through ball. One Zebroski brought down by the goalkeeper and thankfully one rather more decisive Nicky Wroe penalty. 1-0 and fully deserved. We didn't take our foot off the gas either. Wroe and Mansell really got hold of their midfielder and the pace of Zebs and Benners worried their two centre halves who both had the same amount of pace as Jan Molby.

We went 2-0 up only for it to be ruled out for offside. Zebroski cut inside, delayed and then shot when everyone thought he would pass. The shot surprised the keeper who parried the ball in the path of Benyon who stabbed it over the line. Jubilation was then brought to a shuddering halt.

I thought the defence looked a bit shaky during the first half. Whether or not it was down to the wind but both the Pickler and Mark Ellis didn't seem to be clearing their lines as decisively as they normally do. But at the time the only threat Port Vale made was hopeful diagonal punts into the box and letting Justin Richards throw himself to the ground. They also got a bit Anfield Kop like for 5 minutes when they were appealing for handball after handball which brought about ironic chants of "handball", "handball" everytime the ball went near to a player.

Then we went 2-0 nil up for real. The ball was worked well to Zebroski who finished from 6 yards.

I looked at the watch just after and thought 9 more minutes. 9 more minutes to the magic 1,000 minute mark. Then 7 minutes later came the goal. But it was a lovely strike and the net bulged in a spectacular fashion. It was his (Anthony Griffiths) first goal in competitive football as well. Fair play to the boy.

Then we had a slightly dodgy spell as they began to push forward and push us back. Bevs made a couple of good saves in that period. They huffed and puffed without really doing anything. Bevs mopped up anything that Ellis and Branston couldn't deal with.

But in the second half we played well. We looked comfortable without looking really threatening. Exit Stevens, enter O'Kane and almost an instant chance to go 3-1 up and kill the game off. But it wasn't to be. I was quite worried when that prat of a Ref started to give some really poor decisions, though Benyon really does need to learn how to foul in a slighter more subtle way, especially when he started to book our players for very little. Though Manse's yellow was fully deserved.

Plaudits go to the Bevanator who deserves the MOTM award for the outstanding triple save. One from the direct free kick, one from the follow up and one to then claw a looping header away. Mark Ellis gets threw himself in blocks, challenges and headers, the Pickler had a magnificent second half and Chris Zebroski was a constant threat.

As for the ones who didn't do so well. I haven't had yelllow tinted glasses since I gave up the smokes almost 4 years ago but nobody deserves a rating of 5. I think that Benyon, Stevens and Wroe let themselves down at times by giving the ball away after some very good work. O'Kane will be a very talented players. He has this gift of having composure on the ball. He reminds me a bit of some of more classy players we've had over the years that he seems to create more time for himself. But we have ourselves a little gem. Actually we have quite a few gems at the moment. Big Bevan is really playing well at the moment.

I have to say that I think its a good thing that the record has now finished. We can all concentrate on the things that matter.

It took so long to get out of Burslem at the end of the game. I thought that the miners in Chile would be freed before I managed to leave Stoke. I went home on the A50 via the Brittania Stadium, Uttoxter Racecourse, Burton and Derby on the way back. It's a good little shortcut is that one.

Anyway some photos.

The view from the car park





The Nicky Wroe penalty. The last one I took got saved at Morecambe.



1-0





Zebs celebrates the second



Bevs mops up



Zebs



Zebs the leaping salmon



The Pickler



Eunan comes on



Man of the match



The fresh faced Eunan O'Kane



The slightly arty shot..



Vale fans sneaking out



The game is won.





and a few of Burslem.



Ye olde Red Lion. I would imagine that the Pub Quiz is one to avoid.



The Town Hall, taken from the traffic lights that never turn green.



and the town hall 20 minutes later



The Britannia Stadium on the way home

Before people start getting "above our station" and too altruistic, I think that is a far more realistic reaction and more appreciative realisation of just what the team have achieved today.

For Christ's sake, we have just rattled up four out of four in the league, only conceded our first goal (that's cost us nothing) in God know's how long AND taken Vale's own unbeaten league record off them on their own ground today.

This is Football League 2 we're talking about, so for a start to go wittering on about player disinterest and the performance not being of top standard is just what you hear from people who have little experience of taking part in ultra competitive sport where the margins between the two side's ability, and therefore between winning and losing; are wafer thin at the best of times.

Just be grateful for another three points ~ what next, complaints that we have yet to see the all black kit used?

Did you fall asleep on the floor and wake up in a grumpy mood as well merse? since when did you need to have been a player to give a view on a football game. Those who have written match reports on this thread WENT TO THE GAME and have given their honest views on the players performance's and how well they thought they played.

Maybe a case of not using the right words and nothing more, each and everyone is entitled to have an opinion and they are just as valid if they played the game or not.