Danny Butterworth produced a beautiful second half solo goal to secure Vale the three points against Charlton Athletic at Vale Park.
Our number 26’s moment of brilliance came just before the hour mark to fire Vale into the lead, which in turn gave us victory.
The move started at the back when David Worrall drilled forward a lovely long ball, which Butterworth took down expertly, before driving into the box and firing low into the bottom left-hand corner.
We made five changes to the side that faced Oxford United last weekend, with Jack Stevens returning in between the sticks for Vale, and James Wilson starting up top after coming back from injury.
Our first chance of the match came after 15 minutes through the returning James Wilson, but after a nice one-two with Tom Conlon, his effort from distance flew over the bar.
The first half was a cagey affair between the two sides, and Wilson perhaps had the best chance of the period when he drove to the edge of the area before striking a low-driven shot that went just wide of the post.
The Valiants nearly found the breakthrough via Mal Benning in the 54th minute when he curled an effort just wide of the far post after being found by Butterworth.
Charlton’s second-half substitute, Chuks Aneke, produced the visitors' first meaningful effort of the match, but after a swivel to break free of a Vale defender, he couldn’t keep his effort down.
Butterworth was once again involved in the action as we searched for a second, however, he couldn’t quite keep his powerful effort on target after marauding forward into space with 20 minutes left.
Stevens produced an unbelievable fingertip save in the final minute of normal time to prevent the visitors from netting an equaliser after the ball had crept through to Jack Payne to fire toward goal from inside the box.
Port Vale | Stevens, Jones, Hall, Smith, Worrall (66’ Robinson), Garrity, Wilson (53’ Odubeko), Conlon, Benning, Massey, Butterworth (78’ Politic)
Unused Subs | Stone, Cass, Charsley, Pett
Charlton Athletic | Maynard-Brewer, Sessegnon, Dobson, Lavelle (84’ Morgan), Stockley (58’ Aneke), Kirk (78’ Campbell), Rak-Sakyi, Fraser (76’ Forster-Caskey), Blackett-Taylor (77’ Payne), Inniss, Clare
Unused Subs | Elerewe, Harness
Attendance | 7,604 (864 away)