Port Vale 0 v 1 Carlisle United

Saturday 26th January 2019
Football League Two
Vale Park, Stoke-on-Trent
Admission : £20.00 (£2.00 advance purchase discount)
Programme: £3.00
Attendance: 3,881 (492 away)

After receiving an e-mail from Virgin Trains offering 40% off return tickets across its network, I decided to take advantage and tick off another of the 92 today. I had already made an unsuccessful attempt to visit Vale Park in 2016,  but after booking my train tickets, their game was moved late on to the Friday to avoid a clash with Stoke City also playing at home, and I visited Leek Town instead. I was concerned I would experience a similar fate today, when I realised that Stoke City were also scheduled to play at home today, and the long range forecast predicted sub-zero conditions in the days leading up to this fixture. But those fears proved unfounded and I was indeed able to tick off my 89th Football League ground.

Arriving at Stoke-on-Trent train station, I then made good use of my Plusbus add-on ticket, taking a bus to Hanley, and a further bus to Burslem, thereby taking in three of the towns that make up Stoke-on-Trent. Vale Park is about a five minute walk eastwards from Burslem town centre, and is a curious mix of old and new - it makes for a refreshing change from modern identikit stadia. I chose to sit in the top tier of the Railway Paddock stand, located along one length of the pitch, requiring quite a climb up path through a steep grass bank, to enter the stand from the rear at the top, with a couple of refreshment windows by the entrances, where strangely the programmes were purchased from. It is an old-fashioned stand, but legroom and the views are good, apart from some supporting pillars along the front. The lower section of this stand has seating installed on a former terrace. There are single tiered all-seater stands behind both goals, one end is allocated to away fans, and filling one corner is a control tower, the other by a seated area perched in an elevated position. Along the other length is what is the newest stand in the ground, quite a tall and imposing stand, with executive boxes along the top half, while in the bottom half, seating stretches from one corner flag to the half way line, offering unobstructed views, but the the remainder of the length is still unfinished since the stand's construction in 1998, so bare concrete steps remain. It is a shame, as it detracts from what otherwise would be a very smart and quite visually impressive stand. A statue is located outside this stand, and  the stadium's main entrance, but unfortunately most people would not naturally encounter this area, as it is located at the end of a narrow lane that one would only naturally go down to access that stand. The club shop and ticket office is housed in a standalone building, brightly decorated, by the main road passing by and in the corner between the away end and the Railway Paddock stand. The 68 page programme was very decent, with plenty to read and more than enough stats and facts presented.

It is fair to say that these are not good times for Port Vale. After being relegated from League One, they finished just one point above the relegation trap door out of the Football League last season, and came into this game in 18th place, following eight wins and eight draws from their 28 league games, and before winning at Crawley last Saturday, they picked up four points (from four draws) from their previous six games, amid growing supporter unrest at the way the club is being run. Indeed, protests were planned before and after the match against owner Norman Smurthwaite, but were postponed after he was struck by a car on Friday evening, requiring a hospital stay. After three seasons finishing in the top ten of League Two, Carlisle are having a good season, coming into this game in fourth place, following 15 wins and three draws from their 29 league games, and are three points off an automatic promotion spot. They came into this game in terrific form, winning eight of their previous nine league games.  When the two clubs met in Cumbria back in August, Carlisle won 2-1.

On a dank afternoon, with heavy drizzle arriving late in the first half, this was a game of few chances, and one that Port Vale started off quite well, having plenty of possession, but they carried precious little threat going forward. Carlisle were certainly not looking like a team in such great form, but on 32 minutes Hallam Hope tried to win his side a penalty, but was quite rightly shown a yellow card instead for simulation when he took a tumble over the keeper's dive towards his feet. But what felt like a game changing moment came on 41 minutes, when their lone striker Ricky Miller lunged in feet first to challenge for the ball, and although contact was quite minimal - certainly not to the extent that recipient Danny Grainger made out - and he did seem to make some contact with the ball, it was reckless and the referee eventually showed Miller a straight red card. That was a shame for Port Vale, who were looking solid and were proving more than a match for their opponents, but would now have the prospect of playing more than a half of football with ten men.

Into the second half and much the same pattern of play continued, with Port Vale continuing to enjoy plenty of possession, but they were still carrying precious little attacking threat. But under the circumstances, a point would be a good result for them, and it was looking increasingly likely they would get it, as Carlisle were also looking blunt in attack. Perhaps a pitch that was getting increasingly tricky and slippy in the rain had a part to play in a match that seemed to be meandering towards a goalless draw. But on 79 minutes, Carlisle did score what turned out to be the winning goal. Hope passed the ball low into a central position, taking deflections off two Port Vale defenders, for Connor Simpson, who had only come on as a sub six minutes earlier, to poke the ball into the net first time from inside the six yard box. That was really harsh on the home side, and although they did pile on the pressure in the closing minutes, they couldn't find a way through to salvage a point.

The game probably summed up how things go for clubs in the form these two clubs are in - Port Vale playing quite well but were beaten by misfortune and a rush of blood, while this was the kind of result that will Carlisle give great heart in their quest for promotion - even though they did not play well, the profited from some good fortune and ground out the result.

Brief video highlights of this match can be viewed by clicking here.