We continued our pre-season preparations against AFC Bournemouth U21s in our first of two Spanish summer camp friendlies at the Pinatar Arena.
AFC Bournemouth’s first-half opener is cancelled out by Oli Lynch’s late equaliser.
The Valiants almost took the lead within the first minute when Ryan Croasdale pressed and won the ball from the Bournemouth centre back, played a quick one-two with Trialist B before forcing the goalkeeper into a good save down to his left.
It was a tightly-contested first half with little to split the sides before Bournemouth took the lead in the 36th minutes.
An outswinging corner from the left was met by the towering Bournemouth centre back, who rose highest to power a header past Mason Terry and into the back of the net to send the Valiants into the break a goal behind.
As is standard practice in pre-season, the gaffer made a host of changes at the break with the introduction of Oli Lynch, Onel Hernandez, Mo Faal, George Byers, Jaheim Headley and Jasper Moon.
A sweeping Vale move almost resulted in an equaliser three minutes into the second half. Onel beat his man down the right, played the ball into Headley in the midfield, who played a first-time ball into the path of Liam Gordon inside the Bournemouth area, but his shot went wide of goal.
Just a minute later, Oli Lynch latched onto a ball over the top of the Bournemouth defence and unleashed a powerful effort towards goal, but it was comfortable for the goalkeeper, who parried the shot away.
Lynch was at it again ten minutes later when a Kyle John cross from the right-hand side was met by the forward’s head, but the goalkeeper reacted well to tip the ball over the crossbar for a Vale corner.
Hernandez was causing the Bournemouth defence problems with some good moments of skill and it almost resulted in a Vale equaliser when he left his defender for dust on the Vale left before unleashing a low effort towards goal, which was eventually dealt with by a combination of the Bournemouth goalkeeper and defence.
Bournemouth nearly added a second when Jordan Gabriel looked to have been fouled, but the referee wasn’t interested and waved for the game to continue, as the winger cut inside and looked to curl into the back of the net with his right foot, but Smith stood tall to deny him with a good reflex save.
Jon Brady’s side had huge claims for a penalty waved away in the 81st minute when Headley was bundled over from behind by the Bournemouth defender, but again, the referee wasn’t interested in the Vale protests and waved the shouts away.
Vale had a big chance to equalise with five minutes left on the clock when Headley saw his effort saved into the path of Faal, but the forward couldn’t get enough purchase on his header and his effort was cleared off the line.
The Valiants grabbed a deserved equaliser with the last kick of the game when Walters’ shot from the edge of the area was spilled by the Bournemouth goalkeeper into the path of Oli Lynch, who made no mistake in finding the back of the net from close range.
Port Vale Team News
First Half XI
Mason Terry, Ben Waine, Connor Hall, George Hall, Kyle Dempsey, Kyle John, Liam Gordon, Miracle Orisakwe, Ryan Croasdale, Trialist A, Trialist B
Second Half XI
Mason Terry (60’ Smith), Connor Hall (60’ Humphreys), George Byers, Kyle John (60’ Gabriel), Jaheim Headley, Jasper Moon, Liam Gordon (60’ Trialist C), Mo Faal, Oli Lynch, Onel Hernandez, Ryan Croasdale (60’ Walters)
