Vale reserves go down at Fleetwood
Fleetwood Town 3 (1) v Port Vale 1 (1)
Tuesday 25 October 2016
RESERVES WELL BEATEN IN LEAGUE CUP GROUP GAME
FLEETWOOD: Billy Crellin, Trialist, Kieran Wallace, Nathan Sheron, George Glendon, Trialist (Kieran Dunbar 46), Oliver Roberts (Spencer Myers 65), Aaron Holloway (Deon Charles 57), Alex Jakubiak, Keano Deacon.
SUBS NOT USED: Nick Haughton, Harry Turner.
PORT VALE:Joe Slinn, Ben Sampayo, Sam Kelly, Sebastien Amoros, Billy Reeves, Kiko, Christopher Mbamba, Quentin Pereira (Mike Calveley 84), Dan Turner, Anthony De Freitas (Luke Dennis 62), Gezim Shalaj (Brian Barton 68).
SUB NOT USED: Dequan Crockwell, Charlie Walford.
Vale Reserves met Fleetwood at their impressive Poolfoot Farm training ground and were roundly beaten in the second of their League Cup Group games. Vale had Ben Sampayo on trial at right back and the 23 year old was a youth player at Chelsea before moving to Brighton and Morton as well as a number on non-League teams and being released by Hemel Hempstead Town in the summer.
Both teams began brightly with Vale the first to show as Kelly played a 1-2 with Shalaj before crossing and seeing Crellin collect at the near post and then Shalaj did well to beat his full back and cut in towards goal but his cross was cut out. Fleetwood responded with an attack that saw them keep possession on the edge of Vale’s box before a Jakubiac’s pass found their trialist forward whose shot was deflected goalwards by Holloway; Slinn just got a touch to deflect the ball on to the post and Vale managed to clear the loose ball.
minute when there looked to be no danger as the ball fell to Holloway 30 yards out; he hardly seemed to swing his boot at the ball but hit the sweet spot as his volley hit the back of the net before anyone could move. Vale replied with their best move of the game as Shalaj did a step-over before his centre was headed just wide by Turner as the period finished level which was a fair reflection of the game.thShalaj was blocked off when trying to race down the wing and De Freitas swung over the resulting free kick that eventually saw Shalaj hit a shot just wide. The hosts responded with their trialist forward shooting just wide of the far post. Midway through the first period Vale took the lead as Crellin under-hit a pass to a defender and Dan Turner nipped in to rob him and step forward to coolly shoot in to the far corner of the net. Fleetwood then dominated the game as they went in search of the equaliser with Jakubiak and the triallist both having shots. The equaliser came in 38
Vale nearly conceded after 7 minutes of the restart as Reeves was caught with the ball after a pass from Slinn and Jakubiac managed to poke the ball past Slinn as Reeves challenged and ball came back from the post where Jakubiac had another shot that Slinn was able to deal with. Fleetwood were well on top by this stage and a rare Vale break saw a Turner shot parried for a corner. Vale went behind on the hour mark as substitute Charles drifted across the edge of the Vale penalty area before pulling his shot across Slinn and into the far corner of the net.
Vale were playing sideways and backwards without any penetration and only threatened occasionally from set pieces, such as a Kiko short corner that Shalaj try to curl the ball home at the far post only to see it drift just wide. Fleetwood deservedly extended their lead with 14 minutes to go as Charles set up Deacon for what was a pass into the net. Deacon almost added another goal but Slinn saved his first effort and the ball was then scrambled away to safety. The last action saw a long range effort from Turner clawed away by Crellin as Vale’s second half performance got the reward it deserved
Lindon Roberts – Port Vale Volunteers Group