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We began the game playing into the wind and our aim was clear. Possession, possession, possession! It didn't take long to pay dividends as we moved the ball from left wing to right and Dan Brown was clear of the full back. His devilish cross arrowed to the feet of Dom Knowles and the striker slammed home.
Despite the early lead and our total possession we weren't making many goal scoring opportunities as we battled into the wind. Indeed our next sight came nearly 20 minutes later as Liam Newman spun his marker and raced clear. His finish though was ruined by an unfortunate bobble as he pulled the trigger. Knowles also had a 2nd goal chalked off for offside, but the decision looked harsh coming on the back of a penalty box melee.
We did manage to extend our lead on the stroke of half time and again it came from the right wing. This time the provider was Dil Chaggar and his cross dropped in over the head of the defender and was instantly controlled by Newman. The touch may have been fortunate as it seemed to take even the Welshman by surprise, but he recovered well and quickly stabbed the ball home.
The second half offered much the same as the first. The quality of our passing though seemed to wane slightly as we failed to adjust to the wind at our backs immediately. We were hitting a number of our through balls with just a little too much venom and they were being carried to the keeper or over the by-line. With the wind at our backs it certainly left you expecting a long range effort from Alex-Ray Harvey and he duly obliged, but he got slightly under it and the keeper got across to pluck it from its path to the top corner.
A third goal looked nailed on as the game reached the three-quarter stage. A firm cross from the left hit a Vale arm in the box and the ref pointed to the spot before anyone even had chance to appeal. With Wes Fletcher and James Craggs both warming the bench the question was who would step up? The lads decided to give Brown the opportunity to get his name on the score sheet but his placed effort was saved low to the keeper's right. At least he saw the funny side when the crowd proceeded to rib him when he returned to his right back berth.
With around ten minutes remaining Pash decided to shake things up, introducing Michael King along with Craggs and Fletcher. Rather than spur us on it almost cost us as Vale broke while we re-arranged. Danny McDonald came charging from his line and looked to be in no mans land but managed to produce a save, before dropping on the spinning ball and snuffing out the danger.
Following this scare we settled and played out the remainder of the game in control. Chris Lynch fired in a long range free kick which was parried by the Vale keeper and Craggs fired the rebound into the side netting. The visitors just couldn't get the ball out of their half though and Craggs found himself on the left wing in possession. His deep cross drifted over to the far post where King and Lynch were queuing up and King it was who rose highest to nod home.
There was even an opportunity for Fletcher in the final minute as he chased a through ball and attempted to divert it past the keeper, but was just foiled by an out stretched arm.
Team:- Danny McDonald, Dan Brown, Jake McEneaney, Nik Kudiersky, Chris Lynch, Alex-Ray Harvey, Chris Anderson, Oliver Devenney, Dil Chaggar (Michael King), Liam Newman (James Craggs), Dom Knowles (Wes Fletcher).
Sub not used:- Stef Ritchie.