Pre-season is back for our local clubs as League One new boys Port Vale made the trip to Newcastle Town (on Friday night) and Kidsgrove Athletic on Saturday afternoon for their first friendlies.
Darren Moore took his first team to both the Red Industries Stadium and the Fitzjohn Stadium to begin preparation for the new season.
At Newcastle Town, nearly 1700 fans saw a 0-0 draw and it was the hosts who could have won the game with Carlos Dos Santos seeing his free kick tipped around the post by the Vale goalkeeper. While Mitch Clarke had to make a goal saving tackle to deny Dos Santos late on.
At the other end, Jayden Stockley put a header wide of the goal.
After the match, I caught up with the Newcastle Town manager Neil Baker to get his reaction to the game.
On Saturday, the Vale made the trip to the Fitzjohn Stadium where Kidsgrove Athletic were the hosts.
The side managed by Port Vale legend Tom Pope and Matt Rhead started the brighter of the two sides but fell behind when Clarke’s cross was turned home by the trialist forward on 23 minutes.
After the hour mark, the Vale enjoyed a six goal blitz with Lorent Tolaj grabbing himself a hat-trick while Jack Shorrock scored directly from a corner, as well as Rauri Paton and new boy Jordan Gabriel adding their names to the score sheet in front of nearly 2,000 fans.
After the game, Vale boss Darren Moore reflected on Moorlands Radio about the start to pre-season.
We also heard from Tom Pope about what he made of the game and his thoughts on Vale’s hat-trick hero.
