A Ellis Harrison brace, either side of Christian Saydee’s effort, was enough to give Port Vale the two-one win and all three points in a tight encounter at Vale Park. The Vale Striker added his fifth goal of the season in the first minute of injury time to leave Shrewsbury empty handed and send Vale fans home with a smile on their face, moving Vale to the lofty heights of thirteenth place in the League One Table.
Vale could have taken the lead as early as the sixth minute, good work down the right allowing Gavin Massey to send a cross into the penalty area, Mal Benning arriving to meet the ball with his head, but his effort went inches wide of the far post.
But Vale were not to be stopped and took the lead via a wonderful counter attack on nine minutes. A poor throw in the Vale defensive third allowed Benning to take the ball away from Carl Winchester, before striding forward and finding James Wilson in the middle of the pitch. The Striker starting his first game since his injury lay off, quickly moved the ball on to Dan Butterworth on the Vale right, taking a touch and sliding the ball through the Stags defense. Harrison did brilliantly well to hold off Tom Flanagan before baring down on goal, slotting the ball beneath Marco Marosi and putting Vale 1-0 up.
But as being the case far to often this season, Vale could not consolidate the lead and allowed Shrewsbury level on nineteen minutes. Saydee was allowed to run at the Vale defense, before completing a back-heel to find Rekeil Pyke in the box. The centre forward was afforded too much time and space before returning the ball to Saydee who held off his marker and fired into the corner giving Jack Stevens no chance in the Vale goal.
The second half continued in a similar style to the first, Vale enjoying the lion’s share of possession but looking vulnerable to Shrewsbury dynamic front paring. On fifty-six minutes good persistence from Benning earned a Corner from the attacking left. Massey took it, aiming for a poorly marked Harrison around the penalty spot. The forward managed to get a boot on the cross, but it was a scuffed contact and the ball dropped the wrong side of the left upright.
Vale were also conceding chances though and were relieved when a shot deflected off Nathan Smith’s for a corner on seventy minutes and not into the bottom corner. On eighty-five minutes, Shrewsbury skipper Luke Leahy might have done better as the Vale defense backed away allowing his shot but the Captain’s effort whistled over the bar and into the relative safety of the Hamil Road End Stand.
But it was Vale that took the spoils as the game ticked into added time. Vale won a corner down the attacking left, sent over by Massey towards the penalty spot, heads and a suspicious Chey Dunkley hand go up but the ball found it way to Worrall on the right hand side of the field. The substitute winger took his time, supplying a perfect cross into the corridor of uncertainty between, keeper and his defense, to be met perfectly by Harrison, planting his header into the bottom left hand corner giving Marosi no chance and Vale all three points.
With those three points firmly in their back pockets, Vale will travel back to Shrewsbury on Tuesday looking to secure passage in the Papa Johns Trophy before making the trip to Peterborough, who lost away at Bolton today.
Attendance 7,403 (inc. 918 visitors)
