[choirboy]

Stanley 3-0 Port Vale.
A super victory for the boys in Red today. Much needed but fully deserved.
The first half hour was fairly even but with a very combative element in our midfield with the return of Coyle and Hamilton. Just after about half an hour Mitch Clark tried to get in two crosses from the right wing with the third attempt to cross coming from Coyle. It was a high cross but the Vale keeper, under no pressure, mishandled it and the assistant referee adjudged that the ball had crossed the goal line!
Finally, a bit of luck went the way of Stanley!
Stanley grew in confidence and started to get on top. From a left wing situation, I think Nathan Butler-Odejayi and Shaun Whalley got to the goal line with the pull back causing chaos in the Vale defence. Rodgers got the final touch for the deserved second goal. The relief was palpable on the Stanley terraces!
We still kept the upper hand in the second half and after a number of substitutions for both teams Stanley got the deserved breakthrough when Shaun Whalley went on one of his mazy runs into the penalty box. He beat three defenders and was tripped by the fourth! Pressley straight away picked up the ball and stood confidently on the penalty spot. The Vale keeper Stephens very unsportingly approached Pressley in order to give him some verbal psychological negativity. However, Ethan Hamilton had very wisely already placed himself in front of Pressley and protected the penalty taker, guiding Stephens away and then Ethan repeated the job with another unsporting attempt from another Vale defender. That was so superb from Hamilton. Pressley duly put the penalty away sending Stephens the wrong way. There was a silly tussle in added time with some unsporting actions from some Vale players. They could have had two red cards but the referee awarded one and a yellow card to both teams.
One other observation of an attempt at cheating was of the Vale number 20, Taylor, who was pulling his own shirt up around his head when being closely ‘marked’ by Coyle at a corner! I have NEVER EVER seen such a blatant disgusting attempt at trickery! The Clayton End gave him a deserved verbal bashing.
All the Stanley players performed well today IMHO.
The Clayton End had been absolutely immense throughout the whole match and the players celebrated so joyfully with them at the end of the match.
A vital three points gained but also a confidence booster.
KEEP THE FAITH
ON STANLEY ON