A Will Vaulks thunderbolt from distance condemned the Valiants to a narrow 1-0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday at Vale Park.
It took a wonder strike to open the deadlock, and that’s what Wednesday got through Vaulks who curled an effort into the top right corner from 30 yards out when the ball rolled to him.
Vale Park saw its biggest attendance of the season for the visit of the Owls, and those who turned out to see the Valiants saw Darrell Clarke make three changes from the defeat at Peterborough, with Brad Walker, Tom Conlon, and Will Forrester all returning to the line-up.
Vale came flying out the traps, and within two minutes a dangerous Gavin Massey cross had to be tipped onto the bar by David Stockdale.
20 minutes later, the visitors had their first and second chance of the match, with the first being a curling effort from Barry Bannan which forced Jack Stevens to tip the ball over the bar.
From the resulting corner, Ben Heneghan managed to climb highest in the area and direct a strong header towards goal, but Stevens once again was equal to it to stop the away side from taking the lead.
However, Vale would be the next team to come close to taking the lead when Ellis Harrison saw his flicked header from a Brad Walker shot saved at point blank range by Stockdale.
Bannan was the key man for the Owls, and just under 10 minutes after the break he came incredibly close to breaking the deadlock when his close-range curling free kick just went wide of the righthand post.
The next chance of the match was also for the visitors through a counterattack, but after a fast-paced move, Mallik Wilks couldn’t reach a cross-box pass.
Dennis Politic, who came on as a second-half substitute, dragged a shot wide from just outside the box with 15 minutes to go, as Vale tried to get back into the game.
Harrison, who always gets his head on the end of a cross, managed to meet a David Worrall ball from the right, but the connection on his header was not good enough to trouble the keeper.
Moments later Jack Stevens found himself in the opposition box for a corner, it looked like he nearly did the unthinkable, but his header from the ball in was held onto by Stockdale.
Unfortunately, Vale couldn’t find the late equaliser they craved, and they now move on to next week when they face Derby County at Pride Park.
Port Vale | Stevens, Jones (57’ Cass), Walker (71’ Politic), Smith, Garrity, Wilson (71’ Odubeko), Conlon, Benning (78’ Butterworth), Forrester, Massey (78’ Worrall), Harrison
Unused Subs | Stone, Pett
Sheffield Wednesday | Stockdale, Palmer, Vaulks, Heneghan, Wilks (67’ Paterson), Bannan, Windass (82’ Dele-Bashiru), Johnson, Ihiekwe, Smith, James
Unused Subs | Dawson, Iorfa, Bakinson, Hunt, Mighten
Attendance: 11,336 (3,522 away)
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