Unbeaten in months, scoring goals, top of the league…who are
this team they call the City?!
An excellent and hugely encouraging start to the season faces
a testing five days with two away games, the first one of which comes tonight at
Vale Park.
Last time we came here we were at the opposite end of the
table and struggling for points, but it was here, a couple of weeks further
into last season which potentially proved a key moment, as Aden Flint’s back-pass in the 94th minute let in Lee Hughes to equalise and deny us our first win of a difficult season which had just started showing signs of
promise in performances. The team’s
confidence took a visible knock after that moment and led to the palpable
nervousness amongst players and fans as we approached the end of games for the
months that followed – often causing the loss of further potential points.
This time around we travel up in very different spirits, with
a different manager and a large number of different players. Flint himself is a man transformed and goals
are coming from all angles. Fans are talking of promotion, not transition and
we venture north as worthy favourites – even if that is a bit of a scarily confident proposition!
Stu Radnedge caught up with Dave Johnson, who works in the media
team at Vale Park, for this extensive review of Vale’s season so far.
“We go into
Tuesday evening’s encounter with the league leaders a little nervous, given our
recent results, though the performances haven’t quite been as bad as the
results may suggest and there is still a feeling that Micky Adams has the
ability, not to mention the players, who can turn things around soon - whether
that recovery starts when the Robins are in town remains to be seen.
Everybody
who is particularly fond of Port Vale has been through some harrowing times in
the not too distant past, and also some uplifting times to add to that, it has
to be said. The club went into into administration and the doom and gloom
merchants had a field day. This was soon followed by a change of ownership and
there was renewed optimism.
What
followed was quite remarkable by Vale standards with Micky Adams guiding the
team to promotion on extremely limited resources and then with the bookies
predicting Vale to drop straight back into League Two, against all the odds
Vale finished a more than respectable ninth last season.
Back to
normal then when everybody was left sweating about the future of the Vale boss
when his offer of a new contract several months previously seemed to have been
withdrawn – or was it? After months of uncertainty he finally penned a new deal
and then began to look to recruit after several key players had moved on to
pastures new and with a large number of players out of contract, the
uncertainty returned.
Micky
worked hard on what was a small budget when compared to several other League
One clubs and managed to make some impressive signings. Surely the bookies had
got it wrong when they had Vale amongst the favourites for the drop once again?
An opening
day draw at home to Walsall was inconclusive, but then Vale gave the whole of
Burslem and the surrounding area a lift with a terrific and convincing display
against one of the teams widely tipped for a quick return to the Championship.
Vale went to Doncaster with even the most optimistic of Vale supporters hoping
Vale could avoid a heavy defeat.
What came
next shocked everybody as Vale gave what was an almost perfect performance as
Doncaster were made to look average as Vale stormed into a 3-0 half time lead,
with everything clicking into place on the field of play. Yes, the home side
pulled one back in the second half, but the result never came into question.
A
disappointing performance at Oldham three days later was surely the result of
tired legs and every Vale fan was against full of optimism, with many of them
daring to suggest Vale were real play-off contenders. That seems to have
changes once again now after a string of disappointing results.
Whisper it
quietly, but there are a small number of the fans who are starting to blame
everything on the manager, suggesting he isn’t up to the job! A ridiculous
claim I ever there was one. Well known for his motivational skills and his
insistence on hard work on the training ground, if anybody is capable of
turning things around, he is the man who can.
Five
defeats on the bounce are bound to affect confidence and see the doubters start
to make themselves heard, but let us look at the five games in question,
starting with the home defeat to Notts County – a game in which the visitors
took the lead thanks to a first half deflection and were then battered in the
second half when even County fans thought Vale were unfortunate not to score
four or five. Another goal followed for the visitors, when Sam Johnson was
beaten by a wicked deflection and Although Vale lost the game, nobody was too
concerned.
A home
defeat to Cardiff City in the Capital One Cup followed just three days later,
but Vale had made several changes and the result was kind of accepted as the
important thing was to get back on track in the league. Vale soon had that
opportunity, again with a home game, this time against a newly promoted
Chesterfield side fielding a handful of former Vale players.
The
performance just wasn’t up to scratch to be honest and the Spireites deserved
the three points, leaving Micky Adams and Vale supporters scratching their
head, wondering just what had gone so wrong within the space of eight days.
Three home fixtures – three defeats, and the prospect of an away trip to then
league leaders Peterborough United was to follow.
Still, with
a local derby against near-neighbours Crewe Alexandra to come, everything would
turn out fine and Vale would once again come good, after all, Crewe were rooted
to the foot of the table without a single point and were there for the taking.
Vale had already sold all of their allocation of tickets and the away fans
filled one side and one end of the ground as they anticipated three points and
a comfortable victory.
It took
just six minutes for the home side to take the lead and when they grabbed a
second goal in the 29th minute, Vale supporters sat there in shock
and disbelief. The unthinkable was happening and if the gates had been opened,
there could well have been more than a few who would have thrown themselves in
front of a train at the nearby train station.
Jordan Slew
managed to pull a goal back before half time, following up after his spot kick
was saved and Vale looked a different outfit in the second half, but they
couldn’t but an equaliser and everybody went home unhappy to say the least. You
can bet there were a few dogs kicked on Saturday night and a large number of domestic
disputes were started way before Match of the Day came on the box that night.
There is unlikely to be a population explosion on Stoke on Trent in nine
months’ time!
So what
next? An in-form Bristol City come to Vale Park in confident mood, and rightly
so. Many had tipped the Robins to be amongst the front runners last season and
were more than surprised when that didn’t materialise. Unfortunately, from a
Vale point of view of course, Steve Cotterill’s side arrive unbeaten in seven
League One games so far and Vale have now lost five on the bounce. This game is
only going to go one way . . . . or is it?”
My extreme thanks to Stu and Dave
for this cracking read, let’s hope the two teams respective form carries on for
at least one more match and we can return down the M5 with all three points.
COYR!
The Exiled Robin
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