Port Vale suffered their first defeat of the pre-season campaign, as an early Blackpool goal was all that separated the two sides at Vale Park on Saturday afternoon.
Blackpool broke the deadlock after just five minutes as a ball was threaded beyond the Vale defence, leaving Delfouneso one-on-one with Scott Brown. As the supporters protested for a potential offside, the striker tucked the ball away to hand his side the lead.
Despite going down a goal down early on, Vale were determined not to let that stop them pressurising Blackpool, and Neil Aspin’s men were creating plenty of opportunities.
The next chance for the Vale fell for James Gibbons. Louis Dodds played a nice flicked ball over the top to Pope, who was able to cushion the ball down for Gibbons. The full-back couldn’t make the connection he wanted, and the ball dribbled wide of the post.
Minutes later, Dodds came close to putting the Valiants on level terms on two occasions, before Pope’s header from a corner was accidently stopped on the line by no other than Scott Quigley. We’ll have to remind him he’s not at Blackpool anymore!
Luke Joyce, Leon Legge and David Worrall were introduced in for a second half that really struggled to pick up any real stand out moments. Gnanduillet hit the post for Blackpool 15 minutes into the half to produce the first attempt on target during the second 45.
Blackpool came close to doubling their lead with half an hour to go. Delfouneso linked up well with Gnanduillet, but his finessed shot from the edge of the box was well blocked by Smith. Brown had committed however, and Gnanduillet was left with a golden chance to tap in the rebound, but Legge put his body on the line to block the shot and deny him.
It was a half of very few chances with both sides unable to create any real clear-cut chances. The game ended 1-0 which left Vale tasting defeat for the first time this pre season. We’re back at Vale Park on Tuesday evening when the Valiants face a Wolves XI.