After fifteen minutes, even those with the most ‘rose tinted’ spectacles would not have seen a 4-1 victory on the cards as Vale came from behind to win a proverbial six pointer and leave the play off door ajar, with games against six of the top ten ahead.
Indeed, the first opportunity of the match fell to the visitors as Tom Pett gave away a free kick thirty yards from goal. Fired in from the left by Jack Powell, the free kick was perfectly positioned in between keeper and defense, but Aidan Stone did well, punching clear, also backed up by a whistle blast from referee Joyce who’d seen a foul in front of the Vale keeper.
Vale tried to hit back and on seven minutes created their own half chance, a quick throw from David Worrall, found its way back to the Winger. Worrall managed to put in a good cross in the direction of Jamie Proctor, who won his header, but it was over the bar from the edge of the box.
Vale finally succumbed to the early Crawley onslaught and it was a calamitous goal for Vale to concede. Crawley again attacked in numbers, the ball being fed into Vale box towards Ludwig Francilette, who drew a fine save from Aiden Stone, the Vale stopper getting a strong hand to the close range effort, but as the Vale defense tried to scramble the ball clear, it only hit the back of a Nathan Smith and cannoned back into the Vale goal to make it 0-1 to the visitors and giving the Vale centre back a serious case of déjà vu having put through his own net against Crawley in April 2018.
The Visitors having dominated the start of the game, Vale slowly started to get a toe hold and on nineteen minutes created another half chance, Chris Hussey taking a long throw towards an unmarked Ben Garrity, the midfielder turning and heading towards the D of the Penalty box and letting fly, but it was a poor effort and high into the Hamil Road stand.
Vale stuck to their task though and the first real moment of quality appeared moments later, as James Wilson managed to get a half volley away from the left side of the box but Glenn Moris did well to get two hands behind the ball, the Crawley defense happy to scramble the ball away for a corner. Chris Hussey, took it from the attacking left, the cross being cleared but finding its way back into the box, but again the Town defense clear the danger.
On twenty-six minutes though, Vale finally got their reward after controlling the game for the previous five minutes. James Wilson did well out on the right touch line before dropping the ball back into the Vale midfield. A long ball through the heart of the Crawley defense from Tom Pett caught Morris in no mans land, Garrity reading the situation perfectly, running to the right of the advancing keeper and sliding a right footed effort into the open goal to draw Vale level.
Vale continued to pressure and took the lead in the thirty-eight minute. Good build up on the edge of the box first by Chris Hussey and then by Harry Charsley, feeding the ball to Proctor who set Wilson free, surging into the inside left channel of the box, getting to the byline before firing the ball, left footed, across the goal bypassing Morris and leaving Worrall with a simple task of forcing the ball over the line despite the covering defender.
Even with their tails up, Vale were thankful to Keeper Stone as the half drew to a close. Vale were caught on the break, as Town broke down the attacking right, three on one, Smith the exposed defender. The ball was lofted towards the back post and Kwesi Appiah caught his volley perfectly, right footed, but Stone did brilliantly, diving to his right to claw the ball away and Vale survived.
It was Vale though that started the second half where’d they left off and increased their lead on fifty-one minutes. It was a goal from nothing as Stone cleared the ball up towards the strikers, Proctor winning the first challenge and flicking the ball on. Garrity had done well to catch up with the target man running past him waiting for the ball to drop and hit a crisp half volley across Morris into the bottom left hand corner giving the keeper no chance.
Vale continue to press on fifty eight minutes Proctor did well to break up play in the midfield before freeing Worrall down the Vale right, the winger had time to pick a pass, sliding the ball back to Proctor on the edge of the box, but the ball didn’t sit well and the striker was forced to square the ball back to Worrall who crossed towards the back post with the outside of his right foot, finding Hussey running onto it, but his volley only flashed across the Town goal and it remained 3-1.
But Vale were not to be denied and put the game to bed on the hour mark. Vale spread the ball to the right of the penalty box, Garrity hanging a high cross up. Proctor did well to both hold off his marker and to nod the ball down to Charsley who looked to shoot, but unselfishly dinked the ball past the defense to an unmarked Connor Hall who smashed the ball into the bottom left hand corner to put Vale in control.
By now the stuffing had been knocked out of the visitors and opportunities were few and far between. On sixty-eight minutes they did win a free kick on the edge of the Vale box. Jack Powell was over it but could only put his shot into the wall and Vale cleared.
The game was over as a spectacle as the final twenty minutes played out, Vale taking the opportunity to rest Wilson, Proctor and man of the match Garrity with one eye on the home game to in form Mansfield on Tuesday night, but the Valiants saw the game out comfortably to leave Vale four points out of the play-offs but with those vital two games in hands over the likes of Swindon and Tranmere in the play off positions.
