The Valiants were held to a 1-1 draw in their first home game of the 2019/20 campaign, in another impressive display by John Askey’s men.
Despite the point against a strong side, Vale will be disappointed that they did not come away with all three points, following their strong performance and a controversial Northampton equaliser.
The game got off to an exciting start, with both teams going back and forth, but neither were able to carve out a clear cut chance.
The first near chance of the game went to the Vale, when Scott Brown launched a ball up the field, where Tom Pope laid it into the path of Manny Oyeleke who drilled the ball just wide from 20-yards out.
The deadlock did not last much longer however, with first goal of the game going in Vale’s favour, when David Amoo leapt above the Northampton defence, and headed home from David Worrall’s corner in the 25thminute, celebrating his home debut with a goal.
The lead was nearly doubled soon after, as James Gibbons picked up the ball and drove forward into the opposition half, before launching an effort from 25-yards that hit the side netting.
The Valiants were able to prevent Northampton from creating any clear cut chances until the last additional minute of the half, when the Cobblers worked into the box and a dangerous ball seemingly missed everyone before a corner was given.
The resulting, controversial, corner was curled into the box by Joe Martin, where it eventually fell to Ryan Watson, who found the back of the net and tied things up for half-time.
The second-half kept the high intensity play going, with Vale the first to come close, captain Tom Pope winning a header in the Northampton box, but his effort went just past the post.
Northampton responded with a chance of their own, Scott Wharton’s header from a corner was cleared off the line by Luke Joyce before the following shot was blocked.
Both teams continued to create chances, with Pope again coming close to heading his side into the lead, after Amoo’s brilliant run down the left-wing.
It was Northampton’s turn to nearly take the lead next, Watson nearly doubling his tally for the day, heading towards goal from close range, only to be denied by a brilliant save by Brown.
With 69 minutes on the clock, it was very nearly 2-1 Vale, as Pope knocked Worrall's corner back into box where Oyeleke produced an acrobatic effort that defected off Amoo and struck the bar.
With five minutes to go, Vale came close yet again when the ball fell to Joyce on the edge of the box from a corner, and he rocketed an effort just wide.
Adam Crookes nearly won it for his side with the last chance of the game, but his looping header was just tipped over the bar by David Cornel right at the death.