Port Vale: Vale hit bum notes as Accrington prosper

AN opera singer graced the Vale Park pitch to give a stirring rendition of Pavarotti's classic Nessun Dorma before the Valiants did battle against League Two rivals Accrington Stanley on Saturday.

But Lee Sinnott's men, in contrast, failed to hit the high notes as they slumped to their first defeat of the new league campaign against one of the division's lesser-fancied teams.

And far from calling for an encore, a vocal minority of the bumper 6,643 crowd left Vale's players in do doubt as to what they thought of their performance by greeting the full-time whistle with a chorus of boos.

The strong reaction, although many others stood and applauded the players off the pitch, was a little harsh on a young squad that is still finding its feet after only a short time together.

And their decidedly flat showing comes on the back of a tough opening week to the season which has seen them fight their way to a victory at Luton Town and give Championship outfit Sheffield United a run for their money during their midweek Carling Cup clash.

But the high anticipation that swept through the terraces before the game was soon punctured when Stanley midfielder Ian Craney curled home an early free-kick

And Vale's fate was sealed at the death thanks to striker Paul Mullin's cute chip.

A philosophical Sinnott refused to hide behind excuses after the game and says his developing squad still need to improve by identifying Accrington's two "preventable goals" and bemoaning his side's lack of end product.

Sinnott added: "We want to improve and you put things into perspective. The crowd were wonderful for us on Saturday. There were around 6,600 people here and we're not going to please all of the people all of the time.

"You look across and can say we're 'only' playing Accrington Stanley, but it's not a question of that, because that's being disrespectful to the opposition.

"You look at our position, it's not as though we needed to be grounded, but maybe people need to understand where we stand at the moment.

"We are a new young team that is developing and I can most certainly see the positive signs there, especially in the first half when we had a 25-minute period when we were cranking up the pressure. But we couldn't find that all-important goal."

Sinnott rewarded striker Luke Rodgers with his first start of the season after the 26-year-old netted in Vale's 3-1 Carling Cup loss at Bramall Lane on Wednesday night.

Midfielder Rob Taylor was the man to make way, which led to forward Kyle Perry being shifted out to his adopted position out on the left flank, with Rodgers partnering Marc Richards up front.

Central midfielder Dave Howland made a welcome return to the squad after recovering from minor groin and hamstring complaints.

Rodgers and Richards surely have the ability and experience to form one of League Two's most destructive strike partnerships this season. But Vale's inability to keep possession and apply persistent pressure on a hard working Stanley side, coupled with their lack of creative edge, meant the home barely side cut through Accrington's rearguard.

Anthony Griffith was typically tenacious in central midfield, but the Valiants appeared to be missing a dominant creative force through the middle, while the likes of Louis Dodds and Perry were rarely afforded the luxury of receiving quality ball in dangerous positions.

Dodds again showed his willingness to get inside from the right to set his sights on goal, but on this evidence, Vale will need to sharpen up their link-up play to fully utilise the threat posed by the 21-year-old.

Stanley's forward line, in contrast, provided a greater threat with the physical presence of Mullin and the fancy feet of Jamie Clarke causing particular concern.

But while Stanley provided some cutting edge during their sporadic attacks, especially as the game became stretched in the second half, they did not possess the tools to totally dominate Vale in general play.

And had they not scored with an early sucker punch the story of the match may have been very different.

The visitors went ahead in only the second minute when centre-half John McCombe was adjudged to have barged into the back of Mullin to concede a free-kick 25 yards from goal in a central position.

Craney, Accrington's dead-ball specialist, didn't need any encouragement to step forward and duly stroked his free-kick into the bottom right-hand corner past an unsighted Joe Anyon in Vale's goal.

The hosts almost levelled matters in the eighth minute as Rodgers produced a nice touch to find Richards, who cleverly flicked the ball to the onrushing Dodds.

The right midfielder took the ball in his stride, but pulled his low 10-yard effort wide of the far post from the right channel.

Rodgers was doing a lot of huffing and puffing in his quest to cement a first-team place. And on 16 minutes he chased down Anyon's long clearance and forced Northern Ireland international and former Crewe defender Colin Murdock into fluffing his back pass to Stanley keeper Kenny Arthur.

Dodds veered in on the loose ball, but full-back Chris King made a vital challenge to avert the danger.

In the 22nd minute, Dodds fired over a cross from the left which flicked off the head of full-back Peter Cavanagh. The ball looped in the air and Richards turned to unleash a 10-yard volley that flew over the bar.

Richards looked unusually cumbersome during spells in the first half, but was often feeding off scraps as Vale tried to bypass the midfield area by delivering balls from deep positions.

But it was Richards who won a free-kick after being bundled over on the edge of the box in the 25th minute. He then dusted himself down to take the resulting set-piece, but couldn't keep his effort down as the ball sailed over.

Vale were enjoying their best spell of the game and when McCombe launched a ball into the box in the 35th minute, Richards stooped to allow the ball to run through to Rodgers, whose shot-on-the-turn from 12 yards only found the arms of Arthur.

Clarke showed his elusiveness as the half drew to a close when he made space for himself before flashing his grass-cutter just wide of the right-hand post from just inside the box.

Vale had a half-hearted penalty shout turned down by referee Graham Horwood, in the 49th minute, after Richards went to ground in the box under a challenge from King.

Dodds floated over a free-kick from the left two minutes later and Perry did well to cut across Stanley's defence to connect, but could only direct his header wide of the mark.

However, the talented Clarke almost doubled the visitors' lead on 57 minutes after collecting the ball on the left. The 19-year-old, who is loan from Blackburn Rovers, instantly had Valiants skipper Sam Stockley back-pedalling before crashing his 16-yard angled drive past the far right-hand post.

Stanley were beginning to enjoy more space as Vale went in search of an equaliser, and Clarke went even closer to extending their lead on 65 minutes.

This time he collected the ball 25-yards from goal before he gave defender Chris Slater the slip and rattled the top of right-hand post with a rasping effort.

Sinnott rang the changes to try to cultivate a swing in Vale's favour and in doing so, replaced Perry with Rob Taylor who took his place in left midfield.

Midfielder Shane Tudor then entered the fray on 70 minutes, replacing Rodgers, and went to right midfield as Dodds was pushed further forward to a more central position.

Craney almost doubled his personal tally on 72 minutes, but Anyon turned his 14-yard shot around the post.

And the Vale stopper had to be alert again soon after when he came out to deny Clarke with a block tackle after the striker had forced his way past Slater.

With time running out, Vale were desperate to salvage a point, but Taylor's angled half-volley from the corner of the box barely troubled Arthur.

King blazed over from 30 yards in the 87th minute, before Vale defender Lee Collins smashed a low drive from the edge of the box into Arthur's arms.

And Accrington sealed victory in the 89th minute, courtesy of Mullin's sublime finish.

The 34-year-old received the ball in the left channel, and with Vale's defence backing off, he had all the time in the world to pick his spot and find the net with a beautifully weighted 20-yard chip over Anyon's head.