The Valiants walk away empty handed as Lincoln City come out on top at Vale Park.
Imps striker Joe Taylor opened the scoring just two minutes into the contest after he intercepted a free kick on the edge of the Vale's area.
Jason Lowe attempted to answer back for the Valiants on 17 minutes following a Jensen Weir free kick. The ball was lofted into the middle of the box, and Lowe towered above the Lincoln defence but guided his header too far to the right of Lukas Jensen’s post.
The Valiants were causing problems for the visitors in the air, and just after the half-hour mark came close once more after Ben Garrity rose highest to meet Tom Sang’s delivery, but the midfielder was unable to connect cleanly with his head to steer the ball goalwards.
We carved out two big opportunities before half time. The first saw James Wilson display great skill as he dribbled past multiple Imps defenders before firing towards the top corner from distance, but Jensen produced a brilliant stop by parrying the effort behind.
From the resulting corner, Ethan Chislett picked out Jesse Debrah in the box, but the defender’s aerial attempt had too much on it and sailed over the bar.
Despite the Valiants’ great response since the goas, it was the visitors who created the best chance of the half in stoppage time. Reeco Hackett latched onto Lasse Sorensen’s low cross at the back post, but Nathan Smith made a crucial block to keep the deficit at one as the teams headed into the break.
After only nine minutes played in the second period, the Valiants forced Jensen into another huge save. Following terrific build-up play between Garrity and Chislett, the ball fell to Wilson in space in the Imps' area who was denied at close range by Lincoln’s number one.
With an hour gone, the visiting goalkeeper was called into action again. Sang was released down the right and whipped a ball in which was nodded goal-bound by Weir, however, it was collected comfortably by Jensen.
Dan Jones was next to continue the relentless pressure on the Imps goal. He was left unmarked on the left side of the penalty area, but after cutting in to shoot right footed, a scrambling Lincoln body was able to block the strike.
On 82 minutes, Lincoln had an opportunity to seal all three points. Teddy Bishop pounced on a wayward pass and with Ripley out of his net, rolled the ball towards the bottom corner from 40 yards out, however, our number one recovered well and swiped the ball behind.
From the following corner, Ripley prevented the visitors from doubling their advantage when he palmed a powerful Paudie O’Connor header over the crossbar,
In the first of four additional minutes, referee James Bell adjudged Jones to have pulled back Dylan Duffy on an Imps counterattack, and Reeco Hackett converted from the spot as the visitors took the three points back to Lincolnshire.
Port Vale| Connor Ripley, Dan Jones, Tom Sang, Nathan Smith ©, Ben Garrity, Ethan Chislett (Gavin Massey 58’), Funso Ojo (Ryan Loft 78’), Jason Lowe, Jensen Weir (Baylee Dipepa 74’), Jesse Debrah, James Wilson
Unused Subs: Jayson Leutwiler, Conor Grant, Alex Iacovitti, James Plant
Lincoln City| Lukas Jensen, Lasse Sorensen (Timothy Eyoma 86’), Ethan Erhahon, Reeco Hackett, Joe Taylor (Jack Moylan 76’), Ted Bishop, Danny Mandroiu (Dylan Duffy 77’), Paudie O’Connor ©, Sean Roughan, Conor McGrandles, Alex Mitchell
Unused Subs: Jordan Wright, Jordan Makama, Gbolahan Okewoye