Port Vale v Portsmouth – Saturday 27th January 2024
Pompey arrived in the Potteries still top of League One by a single point ahead of Peterborough United despite our recent stumbling form.
But with the chasing pack having games in hand (most notably Bolton Wanderers), the promotion race is now far more open since my previous blog when we won 3-0 at Shrewsbury Town six weeks ago.
Port Vale was my first Pompey (Men or Women) game in 2024 and I set off around 11am from Birmingham with my friend Lee who I’ve known since my sixth-form days and like myself is in the Northern Blues.
Ironically my two previous visits to Vale Park have also been with Lee. The first was back in April 2000 in (what is now) the Championship when we lost 2-0 and the other was in August last season when we won by a Dane Scarlett goal to nil.
For those who didn’t know this, Stoke-On-Trent (AKA The Potteries) has a unique identity in that it is made up of six towns each with their own town hall, Hanley (city centre), Stoke, Tunstall, Fenton, Longton and Burslem where Port Vale play.
There are many different theories where Port Vale get their quirky name from, and when they were formed, with the most recognised being from the valley of canal ports near to where they originally started.
Stoke-On-Trent once had a sea of brick pottery kilns/oven across the city (nearly 4000 at its peak) where amazingly every single one was different to the next. Nowadays less than 50 still stand and are listed buildings.
As we arrived in the city much earlier than my prudent estimate of the M6 traffic on Saturday (circa 12pm), it was an absolute must to make a short detour to the Gladstone Pottery Museum in Longton. Sadly it is closed to visitors until late March, but I managed to get some photos from the outside of its impressive six bottle kilns.
One of the city’s many other famous old pottery sites is the former Cliffe Vale works in Hanley. So as we still had plenty of time I drove over to see these too, made all the more picturesque as they stand adjacent to the west bank of the Trent and Mersey canal.
It was now approaching 1pm and time to head on to Burslem, but not before spotting a pub with a classic play on words called The Holy Inadequate just around the corner from Cliffe Vale in Etruria Road.
Ordinarily it would be compulsory to try a pub with such a distinctive name that you stumble on by chance (which I understand is also an award-winning CAMRA pub), but it was now time to find parking and food and drink over by Vale Park.
After finding street parking a few blocks from the ground, we strolled into Burslem town centre and passed Burslem’s grade II listed Victorian old town hall on Market Place (one of Stoke-On-Trent’s six town halls I mentioned earlier) which is now used by the sixth-form college of a local academy.
After looking online for recommended away pubs, I came across the Bulls Head in St John’s Square as a cracking CAMRA and indeed local Titanic Brewery pub, complete with a beer garden BBQ. All boxes ticked for this wonderful Georgian pub.
Inside there was a nice mixture of home and away fans chatting away (as it always should be) and drinks signs all around the pub of its Titanic brewery connection.
Having enjoyed a pint of Titantic Steerage and a burger, we noticed a fabulous old jukebox inside the pub. However, as it was around 2:15pm there was no time for Lee or I to play any of our eclectic choices.
We left the Bulls Head to make the 10 minute walk up to the ground and this season there was a noticeable change.
The away fans are now housed in the opposite Bycars End with the home supporters moving to the Hamil Road End.
Whilst this switch must go against the grain for some Vale fans (wouldn’t we feel the same about the Fratton End?), the Hamil Road End apparently has both a larger capacity and better acoustics.
Plus the generous space between the stand and Hamil Road itself has allowed for a home fans zone to be created, so an all-round good move by the club.
Vale Park opened in 1950 after Port Vale played at several other grounds including the Old Recreation Ground in the centre of Hanley, so is therefore one of the older new grounds.
On completion, it held 40k and was dubbed “The Wembley Of The North” as there were ambitious plans to eventually hold double that.
Although that pipe dream never quite materialised how Port Vale had hoped, it has an impressive record gate of 49k (just 2k less than Fratton Park’s record).
In the modern era, it has a reasonable 15k all-seater capacity for League One with the Valiants being one of the biggest clubs yet to have played in the top flight. As pictured below, there is still ample space for potential expansion on 3 sides of the ground.
The Bycars End on the other hand is at the top of a grass verge going down to Bycars Lane itself and you now have to walk all the way round through the residential Lorne Street (behind the main stand) then down to the away turnstiles. Although such segregation is an obvious plus point for key games.
Inside the ground (as pictured below), the Bycars End, Hamil Road End and Railway Stand (right) are showing their age as they have done a similar thing to Fratton Park by bolting seats onto old banks of terracing with bigger steps and extended pillared roofs added.
Then there is the comparatively new Lorne Street Stand (left) with two rows of executive boxes and where a certain Robbie Williams was seen watching his beloved Vale after being announced on the day as the new club president ‘El presidente’.
As kick-off approached, there was still time for the obligatory football ground selfie with Lee.
There were a few key changes to John Mousinho’s side. Marlon Pack was out with an illness so in came debutant Brentford loanee Myles Peart-Harris to start in midfield. Then defender Connor Ogilvie returned to the starting XI for the first time since his ankle injury in October as Terry Devlin played as a makeshift right-back.
Port Vale started brightly and with some attacking play that Pompey had to concentrate with although nothing really threatened Will Norris in goal.
As the game settled down, Pompey began to quickly dominate possession and a good move saw Tom Lowery play the ball forward to Abu Kamara who’s run and pass into the box found Paddy Lane, but his left shot was deflected wide for a corner.
Then Lane made a good run down the left wing which rebounded past Colby Bishop and a Vale defender to Devlin who blazed over.
By now Pompey were completely dominant in the first half with shots flying in from Peart-Harris, then a speculative effort by Oglivie which flew just over the bar.
Pompey then won a couple of corners but headers by Sean Raggett and later Colby Bishop were dealt with by Vale keeper Connor Ripley as the sides went in goalless at the break.
HT: Port Vale 0-0 Pompey
I was expecting the hosts to come at us strongly having been completely dominated by Pompey in the first half.
But it was Pompey who did all the attacking and created chances which kept Ripley busy, firstly from a shot by Peart-Harris after a promising move, then a misplaced pass by a Vale defender fell to Lane who’s low drive was beaten away.
It began to look like only a matter of time before we would take the lead, but when Vale had a free kick down their corner flag I began to fear an irony happening. Thankfully as the ball deflected out of the box to Tom Sang, the Vale midfielder fired his shot wide.
Pompey continued to create chance after chance with Lowery, Kamara and Peart-Harris all having opportunities, the latter couldand should have scored, having been played in but was unable to finish.
Then in a later attack the ball came out to Peart-Harris but he kicked his shot into the ground before Ripley pushed it over the bar.
As the game reached the last 10 minutes, it looked increasingly like we would do everything but score as I checked my phone for the other League One scores.
Bolton were winning which meant they were now top, but even more crucially Peterborough themselves only needed to take the lead and we would be out of the automatic places as it stood. Then I can honestly say that I said to Lee that it may take a penalty for us to score the way things were going.
“Are you a time traveller?” you might ask as with 4 minutes to go, a golden opportunity came our way with late drama.
As the hosts tried to break from the back, Conor Shaughnessy’s challenge saw Vale midfielder Ethan Chislett go to ground.
Then just seconds later as Vale’s Conor Grant briefly paused to call for a free kick, this allowed Kamara space into the box before Grant was adjudged to have barged Kamara to the ground as referee Craig Hicks pointed immediately to the spot.
Cue angry chants from the home fans to question his ability to referee.
Play was then held up for a good couple of minutes as protests from the Vale players and their bench continued before Bishop calmly sent Ripley the wrong way to finally break the deadlock for his 14th goal of the season and what a priceless one it was!
“We Are Top Of The League, Say We Are Top Of The League”echoed across the Bycars End by the 1,791 Pompey fans.
Unfortunately, the game was then marred by an irate Vale fan who ran on to the pitch to chase referee Hicks off it. Thankfully the fan was stopped in his tracks and no harm was caused to the referee.
Whilst football is a passionate game and is infuriating when crucial 50/50 decisions go against your team, this was totally unacceptable and along with condemnation by his club, this has now been dealt with by the Police.
Pompey had to survive a nerve-racking injury time corner by the hosts, but had done enough to earn three fully deserved points in the Potteries.
FT: Port Vale 0-1 Pompey
Att: 8,062 (1,791 Pompey fans)
Elsewhere in League One, Bolton and Derby both won, Peterborough drew and there were defeats for Barnsley and Oxford United (who we travel to tomorrow night) and who Stevenage have leapfrogged into 6th place.
So Pompey made the 206 mile journey home from ST6 now on 59 points and two points clear of Bolton – who still have two games in hand and a goal difference 5 better than us.
Next up is our re-arranged match at 7th placed Oxford’s Kassam Stadium who are on 49 points. Oxford are a club we have struggled away to over the years, winning there just twice in the league in the previous 20 attempts. The most recent being in February 2021 when a goal by former loanee Harvey White secured a 1-0 win.
My final word from Vale Park is to pay tribute to a close friend of mine who was a Port Vale fan and who in January last year, so sadly passed away at just 41 years old. RIP Neil, I guess our win today is your gift to me from the sky. PUP PPU.
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