Darren Moore’s Valiants took on Notts County in our latest pre-season outing behind closed doors at Vale Park.
The visitors threatened first within two minutes as Jodi Jones picked up the ball on the right before cutting inside onto his left foot, firing across Marosi but just wide of the post.
Notts County took the lead in the seventh minute as Jones picked the ball up once more and fired into Marosi’s bottom left-hand corner from around twenty yards out.
Vale’s first half-chance of the game came in the twelfth minute when Paton battled to win the ball down the left before laying off Byers for a right-footed effort from outside the area, but the midfielder dragged his shot wide of goal.
The scores were levelled up in the 25th minute when George Byers picked up the ball on the edge of the Notts County area and fired a powerful effort into the ‘keeper’s bottom left-hand corner.
Byers almost got his second of the game just six minutes later when Vale pressed well to win the ball back inside the County half before chipping the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper, but narrowly over the bar.
HALF TIME: Port Vale 1-1 Notts County
Vale started the second half the brighter of the two sides and had the chance to take the lead in the 51st minute when Stockley got on the end of Waine’s cross and knocked the ball down into the path of Paton, but his effort on the spin was well-blocked by the Notts defence.
Paton came close again in the 69th minute when he received the ball on the edge of the area and cut inside onto his stronger right foot and curled towards goal, but the Notts goalkeeper was equal to it and parried the effort away from danger.
With 82 minutes on the clock, the visitors were awarded a penalty for a handball. Jatta stepped up and made no mistake, giving Notts the lead with less than ten minutes remaining.
Jatta claimed his second goal of the game four minutes later when he got on the end of a cross from the Vale right and side-footed into the back of the net from point-blank range.
FULL TIME: Port Vale 1-3 Notts County
Thank you to the team from Notts County for making the trip to Vale Park this afternoon and best of luck with the upcoming campaign.
Port Vale Starting XI
Marko Marosi, Cameron Humphreys, Ben Heneghan, Connor Hall, George Byers, Liam Gordon, Jayden Stockley, James Plant, Jordan Shipley (75’ Rhys Walters), Ben Waine (75’ Ben Lomax), Ruari Paton
