Vale suffer another home setback

A look at Port Vale after their 3-2 defeat at home to Doncaster Rovers

Captain Ben Garrity wins a header in Vale’s 3-2 defeat to Doncaster. Pic by Tom Green

Hello and welcome to our Sunday morning edition of The Valiant for September 1.

It’s early days but Vale’s disappointing start to the season continued as they were beaten 3-2 at home to Doncaster – and couldn’t really argue with the result against an impressive Rovers side.

Vale made life difficult for themselves by conceding early in each half. They gave Luke Molyneux too much space on the edge of the area to open the scoring after 16 minutes and, although Ryan Croasdale finished with composure after running on to Lorent Tolaj’s pass on 30 minutes, Rovers regained the lead with Billy Sharp’s close-range effort less than a minute into the second half.

Molyneux added his second, on 58 minutes, but Vale rallied in the closing stages and got back into the game through Ethan Chislett’s 87^th-minute penalty.

However, they couldn’t force a leveller and so are 16th with four points from their opening four league games, a tally which feels like a let down after opening the season with victory at Salford.

Sam Hart had to go off injured after the break in a frustrating afternoon for Darren Moore, his players and just under 6,000 home supporters.

The defeat comes at the end of a busy 24 hours for Vale who signed Leicester’s Brandon Cover, Aston Villa’s Rico Richards and Sheffield United’s Antwoine Hackford, all on loan, on Friday’s deadline day while selling Baylee Dipepa to Southampton and allowing Funso Ojo to join Shrewsbury on loan.  

We’ve got news, analysis, reaction, opinion and nostalgia in this morning’s edition. If you are interested in subscribing, there is a free trial available. If you are already a subscriber then thanks for your support and please read on…