The Valiants fell to defeat at Vale Park on Saturday afternoon as Gareth Ainsworth’s Wycombe Wanderers netted three times to secure all the points in Burslem.

Brandon Hanlan's first-half goal and strikes from Joe Jacobsen, and Gareth McLeary just minutes apart did the job for the Chairboys.

The visitors struck first in the 13^th minute when Hanlan was sent through on goal before squeezing the ball into the bottom left-hand corner with the outside of his right boot.

Wycombe were given the chance to grab a second 12 minutes from time when referee, Marc Edwards, pointed to the spot after Vale defender was adjudged to have handled the ball in the area.

Joe Jacobsen made no mistake, firing the resulting penalty into the bottom left-hand corner in expert fashion.

Three minutes later, Gareth McLeary sealed the points for the visitors, lashing home at the near post after he had produced a burst of pace to get into space.

Darrell Clarke made just the one change from last week’s stalemate at Cheltenham Town, with Dan Jones returning to the starting 11 for the injured Lewis Cass.

Vale came out the blocks quickly, and nearly took the lead just three minutes into the match when Dennis Politic met Mal Benning’s cross with his head, but his effort looped just wide of the net.

Perhaps our best chance of the half fell to Benning when he drifted behind the Chairboys' defence, however, when the ball fell to our number 11, he couldn’t keep his effort down.

Tom Conlon entered the action in the 56^th minute, and he nearly made an instant impact with his first touch, whipping in a brilliant cross for Ben Garrity, whose header flew over the bar.

The Valiants started to pile the pressure on Wycombe’s backline throughout the second half, and Garrity once again came close with a glancing header, before Jamie Proctor poked an effort wide of the post with 25 minutes to go.

McLeary should have doubled the Chairboys’ advantage with just over a quarter of an hour left on the clock, but when through on goal he could only direct his effort down the throat of Jack Stevens.

Port Vale | Stevens, Jones (76’ Forrester), Donnelly, Smith, Worrall (76’ Robinson), Garrity, Benning, Ojo (76’ Odubeko), Massey, Butterworth (57’ Proctor), Politic (56’ Conlon)

Unused subs | Stone, Holden

Wycombe Wanderers | Stryjek, Grimmer, Jacobsen, Tafazolli (26’ McCarthy), Wheeler, Vokes, Wing, Hanlan (65’ McCleary), Freeman (65’ Thompson), Obita, Scowen

Unused subs | Cartwright, De Barr, Campbell, Wakely

Attendance | 7,237 (389 away)