Port Vale vs Torquay United

[Plymouth Gull]

Indeed. Thought we'd lose tonight but a points good. Sounds like a dogged performance near the end. Happy with that.

[SteveDeckchair]

Boring boring Torquay! He he.

Clean sheet away from home. Noice.....

[Colorado Gull]

Point gained!

[Trojan 67]

Good to hear we coped without the absent O'Kane and Saah.

It appears that we do have strength in depth after all.

[CP Gull]

Good hard earned point. I think we clearly missed Eunan's creativity in the middle of the park. Pleased to hear that Lathrope played well (at least according to Steve Breed on RD) and Ellis seemed to be in the thick of things, winning his headers and getting blocks in.

Like I say, a point gained in the circumstances. The only shame is that Lathrope picked up his fifth booking and so will miss the Sheff Utd game which given his performance tonight is a great shame for him and judging by his recent performances we'll miss him.

[Trojan 67]

Barnet are only 2pts behind Bristol Rowvers !

[taunton_gull]

On reflection think a point was about as well as we were going to do tonight. We were under immense pressure for long periods of the game and the best chances fell to Vale with Olejnik and Nicho pulling off great stops. It's a shame the winning run had to come to at end but at least we remain unbeaten and it is a very decent point. I did think we would struggle tonight, any team at this level would find it hard to cope having a player like O'Kane out of the side. I'm not sure in his absence remaining with 4-3-3 works, especially as Morris isn't a like for like replacement. I would have gone 4-4-2 with Stevens and Bodin on the wings and Atieno/McPhee partnering Howe. There's no guarantee that would have got us anything extra though, at least Eunan will be back for the cup game although it's worrying if true that Lathrope will be absent. My ticket arrived in the post today and I certainly don't fancy us to get anything up there if we are less than full strength.

[Trojan 67]

Dinger on Commo now.

[Trojan 67]

Another honest assessment from Dinger.

What a refreshing change he is in his after match comments from the "spin" of PB.

[Trojan 67]

Off down the pub now, cheerio.

[Jeff]

Thank god that was a cheap game to go to, as that was one of the dullest games ive had to endure for a long time. We were never truly on top, or looked like creating a clear cut opportunity. I suppose that with vales recent form you might see it as 2 points dropped, but I still believe it's a point gained. We keep the unbeaten run going, another clean sheet and a point away from home, all without Eunan.

Things actually started off quite promising in the first 15mins. We passed it around well, and Bodin was giving his full back a real test. But for all the tidy approach play, we were not able to get a clear sight of goal. Vale on the other handed started terribly, exactly like a side short on confidence would. Simple passes going astray and no real comitment to getting forward.

The chances throughout the match were slim pickings. The first sight of goal anyone had was Manse, striding forward out of midfield as it opened up ahead of him, took a pot shot which the keeper spilled and was cleared for a corner. But nothing came of it, and vale began to visibly grow in confidence. Myrie-Williams was a real pacy bag of tricks on their right side, constantly giving Nico the run around but lacking an end product. Madjo and Pope put themselves about very physically - and without penalty - upfront, but aside from a few tame long rangers from both sides neither really threatened.

Rene was properly isolated for us, and nothing was sticking to him although in the absence of O'kane he was dealing with dross, lofted balls up to him that were straightforward for McCombe and Chilvers to deal with. Stevens and
Morris were largely passengers, although Morris did test the home keeper with an angled run and right footed shot, which this time Tomlinson was able to hold on to. Almost all our passing was going through Lathrope at some point, who played a series of simple yet effective passes, whilst doing a lot of dirty work and covering a lot of ground

We could so nearly have seen Vales goal drought end. They'd already put in a couple of warning shots with scrambles in the box from free-kicks, awarded by an increasingly fussy and inconsistent ref. From one of many set pieces, the ball broke to Pope who turned and volleyed in a flash from 6yds out, but Olejnik pulled off a super save to tip it away - it's bound to make the highlights. And so we went to half time level.

Vale were much quicker out of the blocks second half, and had the lions share of the play throughout. But for all their bustle and endeavour, I don't recall Bobby having to over-exert himself once. We retreated into our shell a lot in the second half, and created next to nothing. Lathrope tried his luck similar to Mansell in the first half, with similar results. We could have scored a real beaut - Lathrope knocked a perfectly weighted diagonal ball over the top to the on-rushing Mansell, who air-kicked when trying to volley first time - great ball and it would have been a stunner if it had come off. Rene bustled through and shot across the face of goal, and much later on a build up between Morris, Rene and LRT saw the late sub get a glimpse of goal, but he scuffed his angled right foot shot under pressure from a defender and the keeper gathered easily. But that was it.

Down the other end vale werent faring any better. Monotonous successions of passes were worked left to right and back again without a real opening, and when they did get a shooting chance it was wildly over or wide. Right towards the end the pressure increased with a number of corners and long throws - the much quieter Myrie-Williams burst into the box but was crowded it, and with about minutes to go from one of many corners, the ball broke to a vale player (Loft?) on the edge of the box. His controlled half volley was in all the way, until a Torquay head (Nico?) superbly headed it off the line to deny a certain goal. Based on the second half if any side was playing for the win it was vale, but their forward line had all the hallmarks of a side in a goal drought.

I dare say if we'd played a side who could score, they would have done. We were a long way below our best, but should regard it as positive that we got a point as Vale is always a difficult place to come. We missed O'kane badly, at no point did we look like opening vale up or playing a killer pass. Rene was isolated and well marshalled out of the game by a strong Vale backline - my thoughts is we should have gone 2 up top, but by that time Ling was battening down the hatches for a point. Vale started badly and shakily, but grew in confidence and look to have the components there for a good side. It'll come good for them, just like it did for us after our shocking form. I see this as a point gained, we were missing our star player and it's always a difficult place to come, but we reduced them to minimal chances and kept the unbeaten run going.

Ratings-wise:

Olejnik - 8 - fantastic save, and impeccable handling
Oastler - 7 - didn't put a foot wrong
Robbo - 7 - battled well, kept Pope/Madjo quiet
Ellis - 7 - see above
Nico - 6 - got roasted a bit by Myrie-williams, no chance to show delivery skills
Lathrope - 9 - MOTM. everywhere, considered passes, solid defensive blocks, couldn't ask for more
Mansell - 7 - usual battling performance
Morris - 6 - passenger, although won some key headers and put in a great tackle first half
Stevens - 5 - peripheral at best. Rightly subbed
Bodin - 6.5 - started brightly but faded, ran down too many blind alleys
Howe - 6 - battled, but poor service and marked out of the game

LRT - 6 - added height and strength, his run and shot was more than Stevens achieved all game
McPhee - 5 - one run, took ball straight out of play. Want to like him but doesn't help himself!

At least we have Eunan back for next week!

[yellow]

Cracking report Jeff.

Definitely a point gained then.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Dour, dogged, low in quality and dull as dishwater but you're gonna get games like this. Just got back from a freezing Vale Park. If either side knew how to get shots anywhere near the target then there would have been goals aplenty. Vale must have had about 20 shots from distance, all an absolute country mile away from goal. Same with us too, Rowe Turner wasting a glorious opening by passing back to the keeper and Howe had shots a mile away. Despite the lack of clearcut chances i was very impressed with us defensively tonight, we were put under pressure but we were so resolute and didn't look like conceding to be fair. A ricochet in fron of goal allowed one of their lads to spin and hit a shot at point blank range to Bobbys left and how he got a hand to it as well as divert it away i will never know. Truly world class save. Oastler today was amazing, in fact i would probably put him as man of the match for me. He is leggy, he is slow but by God today he dealt with absolutley everything down his side of the field and never gave up on anything. Same for Nico, lots of tracking, running back which often goes unnoticed. Ellis and Robbo solid as a rock in the centre, and they dealt with Popes aerial threat and physical presence all night. Robbo again showed his tendency to grab shirts and pull shirts and he will come a cropper with one of those soon ie a penalty conceded or he will be sent off. Lathrope is growing on me each time i see him, busy little player, breaks up the play and uses the ball well. He played really really well again. Manse was his usual self but couldn't really get things going like he wanted to. Stevens was pretty poor today and looked like the Stevens of old, drifted in and out of the game, ineffective and anonymous for long periods and was subbed for Rowe Turner. Bodin was direct but couldn't quite fashion a chance for himself despite his trickery. Morris was ok but nothing out of the ordinary. All in all a point gained i would say. They looked poor tonight but i think their fortunes will change and its good we got a point now than meet them when they have picked up a head of steam later on. Final word on the ref, a complete arsehole who gave them everything and us nothing, no exaggeration. Linesmen were appalling to constantly making incorrect decisions that appeared obvious. Going to bed now after a stint on the lav, that Wrights pie should carry a health warning!

[tufc si]

Just got in now and reading through the reviews I pretty much agree with it all to be honest!! Definitely a point gained rather than 2 lost and to be fair to them, Vale didnt look like a team who had been in a poor patch of form. Took them a little while to get going but stroked the ball around nicely at times but just didnt have the final piece of the jigsaw thankfuly!! We were no where near our best today which in fairness made them look better than they probably were!!

No one played particularly badly, I thought Oastler had a fairly decent game and Bobby had to pull off a couple of decent saves, Morris wasnt too bad in the middle of the park either.

Definitely missed O'kane though, there was no one pulling the strings in the middle of the park and as already said above Howe couldnt really make a lot stick up top and when he did, there wasnt really many running off of him in way of support!!!

All in all though, not gunna be too disapointed with how it finished up, at least the unbeaten run continues and clean sheet to boot!!

[Dutchgull]

Thanks Jeff great report. Good to see how well you thought Damon played tonight as I get so angry when at Plainmoor a certain club employee I know constantly berates him for being "crap" when in fact he cannot or does not wish to appreciate the good job he is doing for the team.

Sounds from the radio that it was a well earned point and there is certainly nothing wrong with that ! We cannot and should not expect to win every game and as such every point gained is very welcome. A season is a season where we will experience highs and lows and if we keep picking up points then it should be looked upon as being very welcome and in the long run it should be considered a good result.