by Steve Shaw

NOTTS COUNTY 3

(Hughes 16, 45 pen, Collins 58 og)

PORT VALE1

Richards 43 pen

GOAL ATTEMPTS

County 19 (5 on target)

Vale 8 (2 on target)

THE REFEREE

Anthony Taylor (Cheshire) 6

CARD WATCH

YELLOW – County: None. Vale: McCrory (foul, 74), Fraser (foul, 77), R Taylor (foul, 85). RED – None.

THE CROWD

Attendance 7,561

MATCH RATING

Entertainment 6

MARTIN: Made some typically neat saves, but also looked nervous on occasions when coming to collect 6

STOCKLEY: Kept Matt Ritchie fairly quiet and tried his best to get forward to offer support to the strikers 6

McCOMBE: Gave away an unnecessary penalty at a crucial time just before the half-time break 5

COLLINS: A day to forget for one of the club's most consistent performers. Allowed Rodgers to escape him on a couple of occasions and scored a second-half own goal 5

OWEN: Tried his best to hold the defence together and didn't do a lot wrong in the face of large periods of pressure 6

K TAYLOR: Won't want to come across the likes of talented midfielder Ben Davies every week. Still not back to his best 6

R TAYLOR: Pretty anonymous all afternoon and rarely threatened to break free 5

FRASER: Plenty of effort from Vale's skipper who constantly wanted the ball but was unable to make his presence felt 6

GRIFFITH: Did a solid job in the heart of midfield and refused to give an inch despite fighting a losing battle 6

HALDANE: Showed flashes of pace and power and earned a first-half penalty, but also went missing for long spells 6

RICHARDS: Not at his most comfortable when given target-man duties, but still hit his sixth goal of the campaign, albeit from the penalty spot 6

SUBSTITUTES

DODDS (for McCombe, 63): Failed to make much of an impact on the right-hand side of the pitch 5

McCRORY (for Owen, 67): Did a solid job on his arrival and executed some decent deliveries 6

RICHMAN (for Stockley, 69): Too big an ask to expect the youngster to transform Vale's fortunes in the middle of the park, but gave it good go 5

Not used: Anyon, Yates.

NOTTS COUNTY: Schmeichel, Moloney, Thompson, Edwards, Jones, Davies, Ravenhill (Bishop, 63), Jackson, Ritchie, Hughes (Facey, 82), Rodgers (Hawley, 74). Not used: Hamshaw, Pilkington, Clapham, Westcarr.