Nathan Broadhead’s second half brace condemned Port Vale to a 2-1 defeat against promotion-chasing Ipswich Town on Tuesday night.

Mal Benning netted the first goal from an opposition side at Portman Road since early February to fire Vale into the lead, but Broadhead’s brace after the interval secured the Tractor Boys all three points, despite a battling performance from the Valiants.

Vale silenced Portman Road on the stroke of halftime when Benning buried a perfectly hit volley into the bottom lefthand corner.

However, Ipswich found a leveller eight minutes after the restart through Nathan Broadhead, who latched on to Wes Burns’ cross to turn home from inside the box.

The Welshman later completed the turnaround from the spot just under ten minutes from time, after Benning was penalised for handling in the area.

Andy Crosby made two changes to the side that faced Lincoln City at the weekend, with James Plant the first, coming into the team for his first league start, and Gavin Massey the second.

Vale’s first effort of the match came in the 13^th minute through Plant from the edge of the box after he was set up brilliantly by Mal Benning, but his strike was blocked well by an Ipswich defender.

Only moments later, Plant was at the other end to deny Nathan Broadhead the opener with a brilliant tackle, after the attacker had raced through on goal.

The hosts came close to grabbing a second in the 63^rd minute, but their top scorer for this season, Conor Chaplin, spurned a free header over the bar.

Minutes later, Chaplin fired over the woodwork again, this time with a volley after the ball dropped invitingly for him inside the area.

At the other end, the Valiants had a chance through our own number 10, but after climbing highest to meet a David Worrall corner, Tom Conlon’s header was collected by Christian Walton.

Ipswich Town | Walton, Davis (78' Edwards), Morsy, Woolfenden, Burns, Ladapo (60’ Hirst), Chaplin, Burgess, Luongo, Broadhead (84' Donacien), Clarke

Unused Subs | Ball, Harness, Hladky, Jackson

Port Vale | Stone, Donnelly, Smith, Worrall, Wilson (70’ Holden), Conlon, Benning, Forrester, Massey (80’ Taylor), Butterworth (58’ Harrison), Plant  

Unused Subs | Stevens, McDermott, Proctor

Attendance | 27,696 (296 Valiants)