Port Vale win, but Stoke City and Burton Albion drop points

Stoke City left Goodison Park frustrated as Yakubu’s second-half strike gave Everton a 1-0 win.

The Potters seemed to have taken the lead after 64 minutes as Tuncay reacted quickest following Leighton Baines mistake, but referee Lee Probert disallowed the goal for a push on the Everton centre-half.

And Everton rubbed salt into the Stoke wounds as Yakubu found himself in some space and blasted the ball into the roof of the net.

Stoke sit 14^th ahead of Sunday’s (Oct 31) fixtures with a trip to Sunderland next Saturday (Nov 6).

Stoke City: Begovic, Huth, Collins, Shawcross, Faye, Wilson (Whelan 77), Whitehead, Sanli, Etherington, Jones, Walters (Pennant 73)

Subs not used: Nash, Higginbotham, Wilkinson, Delap, Gudjohnsen

Meanwhile in League Two, Port Vale claim the bragging rights in the Staffordshire/Cheshire derby with Crewe Alexandra.

Goals from Louis Dodds and Marc Richards sealed the 2-1 win as the Valiants remain in second place.

Vale did lose Anthony Griffith following a second yellow card and conceded to Clayton Donaldson’s strike from the penalty spot but they held firm to stretch their unbeaten run to four matches.

Vale’s next match is another derby against Burton Albion on Tuesday (Nov 2) night.

Kick-off is 7.45 pm

Port Vale: Tomlinson, Yates, McCombe, Owen, Collins, Griffith, Loft, Roberts, Dodds (Rigg 68), Justin Richards, Marc Richards (Fraser 82)

Subs not used: C Martin, Sutton, Taylor, Speight, Davis

Burton Albion dropped down to 13^th place after a narrow 2-1 defeat against Macclesfield.

James Collins smashed in Scott Malone’s cross on 63 minutes but the damage was already done for the Brewers as Macclesfield’s Hamza Bencherif scored a goal either-side of half-time.

Burton Albion: Legzdins, Moore, Corbett, Austin, Malone, McGrath (Pearson 86), Maghoma (Phillips 80), Bolder, Harrad, Young (Penn 60), Collins

Subs not used: Poole, Stanton, Dyer, Walker

Kidsgrove boss hopes his strikers continue hot form

Kidsgrove Athletic manager Peter Ward is hoping his in-form front men can lead them to victory over Lincoln United on Saturday (Oct 30).

Dave Walker (14) and Liam Shotton (six) have netted 20 times this season so far and Walker in particular has been terrorising defences.

Kidsgrove Athletic via club website

Walker bagged four goals in Athletic’s 4-0 win over Rainworth Miners Welfare and Ward hopes the rest of the side can keep providing them with opportunites in front of goal.

He said:  “We have two great lads up front.

“They are doing really well but we need to make sure they get the support. They are only going to score in games if they get good service.”

Leek Town boss puts on his boots for Stamford clash

Leek Town‘s new manager Neil Cox has registered himself as player-manager ahead of Saturday’s clash with Stamford.

Cox (pictured) is currently assessing the squad and intends giving everybody a fair chance before delving into the transfer market.

Neil Cox via club website

However, the former Watford skipper intends introducing a new player at training on Tuesday with a view to signing.

Stone Dominoes centre-back Matt Bradbury made his league debut at home to Grantham on Saturday and coped well with the pressure.

Bradbury will now compete with Andy Taylor, Mark Ruddock, Carl Allen and the manager himself for a place at the back.

Meanwhile, midfielder Luke Robinson, who has been nursing the ankle he damaged in the home game against Sutton Coldfield Town (Sept 18) has recovered and he is available for selection.

On Saturday, the Blues travel to Stamford who currently sit 12th in the Evo-Stik First Division South.

They are four points clear of the Blues, who will hope for a run of results after last week’s 2-1 win over Grantham Town.

Kick-off is 3.00pm at the Vic Couzens Stadium.

Leek Town boss delighted with first win

Leek Town served up new manager Neil Cox with his first win as the Blues came from a goal behind to beat Grantham at Harrison Park on Saturday (Oct 23).

Cox’s men converted two chances at the end of each half through Paul Rutter’s neat finish and substitute Leon Ashman’s power header to cancel out the visitors’ first half opener.

Neil Cox via club website

And Cox said that their 2-1 win was deserved.

He said: “ I thought we deserved it on second half performance but I was disappointed in particular with our first half showing.

“I changed things round during the break and brought James Brough on – then we looked more compact getting the ball down and passing it better.

“It was good to get my first win with two well-taken goals and the winner coming from two of the subs.

“Everyone is now fighting for their place with two of the lads coming back from suspension for the trip to Stamford on Saturday”.
 
 Leek: Hodgson, Shenton, P Taylor, M Johnson, Bradbury, Allen, Corden, C Millar, Rutter (Ashman 81), Cope (France 75), Miller (Brough 45). Subs not used: Cox, Heeps.

Grantham: Murray, Percicoe, Potts, Asher, Sucharewycz, Mullins, Glarvey, Robinson, Glass (Pritchard 78), Saunders, Carchedi (Milson 69). Subs not used: Lewis, Hallcro, Rhule.

Att: 274.

Kidsgrove boss upbeat despite cup loss

Kidsgrove Athletic manager Peter Ward remained positive despite seeing his side crash out of the Presidents Cup last night (Oct 25).

Athletic lost 2-0 to Sutton Coldfield Town but Ward said he would rather concentrate on the league.

Kidsgrove Athletic via club website

He said: “We rested seven of the lads because I feel we should be concentrating more on the league than all the cups.

“I use these games to give some of the other lads a game and have a look at them.

“We have a number of lads out at the moment so we need to get them fit for the league games.”

Athletic (4^th) travel to Lincoln United (16^th) but Ward will be hampered with a number of injuries for the match.

Danny Smith (calf), Tom Urwin (achilles), Danny Schwartz (hamstring) and Nick Ward (knee) will all be out of contention for Saturday’s clash.

Kick-off is 3.00pm.

Vale stay second after bore draw

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Port Vale cling onto second place in the NPower League Two despite their third-successive draw against Cheltenham 0-0.

Vale had the best chance of the match when Cheltenham’s Andy Gallinagh deflected the ball back onto his own post courtesy of a Marc Richards cross.

 Justin Richards and John McCombe both came close for Micky Adams’s men but were denied by Scott Brown in the Cheltenham goal.

 Cheltenham’s best chance came late on through Brian Smikle but his shot was blasted over as both sides had to settle for a share of the points.

Port Vale: Tomlinson, Yates, McCombe, Owen, Collins, Griffith, Loft, Roberts, Dodds (Rigg 80), Richards, Richards

Subs not used: Martin, Bell, Sutton, Fraser, Taylor, Morsy

Brewers record first-ever win over Bradford

Burton Albion via Wiki

 

Burton Albion strolled to a 3-0 win against Bradford City, their first ever win over the former-Premier league outfit.

Shaun Harrad fired the Brewers into the lead from the spot just after the half-hour mark after Lewis Young was brought down by Bradford stopper Jon McLaughlin.

On-loan striker James Collins doubled the advantage ten minutes into the second-half with a glancing header courtesy of Adam Bolder’s teasing cross.

The Brewers polished the game off in style through Russell Penn’s calm finish with just two minutes remaining.

The win hauls the Brewers up to 12th, just two points off the play-off spots.

Burton Albion: Legzdins, Moore, Corbett, Austin, Malone, McGrath, Maghoma, Bolder, Harrad (Phillips 81), Young (Penn 66), Collins Subs not used: Clancy, Stanton, Dyer, Walker, Pearson

Stoke undone by Hernandez brace

Stoke City were left to lick their wounds after a double-blow from Manchester United’s Mexican Javier Hernandez.

Hernandez had given United a first-half lead with an innovative header before Tuncay Sanli sent the Potters fans wild with a superb individual effort.

But the celebrations were short lived as Hernandez doubled his tally and gift United a 2-1 win.

The game was filled with controversy as Gary Neville appeared very fortunate to get away without a second yellow card following a late sliding tackle on Matthew Etherington.

Stoke City: Sorensen, Huth, Collins (Higginbotham 57), Shawcross, Faye, Wilson, Pennant (Gudjohnsen 78), Delap, Etherington, Jones, Walters (Sanli 66)

Subs not used: Begovic, Wilkinson, Whelan, Pugh

Let North Staffs Football know what you think about Gary Neville’s sending-off escape route.

‘We must learn from missed chances’ says Port Vale academy boss Mick Ede

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Port Vale Youth Team boss Mick Ede has said his players must learn from their mistakes after they drew 1-1 with Tranmere Rovers.

After a goalless first-half, the Valiants took the lead in the 68th minute, courtesy of Charlie Raglan’s glancing header.

But they were made to rue a number of missed chances as Tranmere substitute Jordan Holmes levelled the score with seven minutes remaining.

“We went for another goal instead of protecting what we had”, said Ede.

“We were in charge of the game but it is one of those things the lads must learn from for the development of the whole side.

“Over the 90 minutes it was a fair result, we had the better chances in the first half but they deserved something out of the game based on the last 15-20 minutes.”

On a greasy surface it was Vale who adapted to the conditions quicker and almost opened the scoring on five minutes when Jack McGowan’s shot was superbly blocked.

Five minutes later Vale were denied by a second goal line block as Ryan Lloyd’s corner met Kristian Cox’s head, but his effort hit Tranmere’s Mark Beech before being cleared.

There was more controversy on 15 minutes when Cox’s second headed effort did find the back of the net but Vale’s celebrations were short lived, after being judged offside.

Tranmere were nearly gifted a goal on 25 minutes as Vale keeper Sam Johnson mis-kicked a bobbling pass-back and watched the ball trickle past him onto the post.

This scare sparked Vale back into life and on 34 minutes Cox was again in the action. McGowan picked up a long ball and squared it to Cox, who fired his shot over the bar.

Tranmere finished the first-half strongly and with identical moves blasted over twice from 20 yards.

Vale started the second-half brightly and came close on 55 minutes.  Lloyd’s corner met Joseph Davis’s head but the ball fizzed narrowly over the bar.

Tranmere’s substitution on 59 minutes was nearly an inspired one as Jordan Holmes broke the offside trap and with his first touch slid his shot wide of the right-hand post.

A minute later Tranmere were on the attack again, as Cole Stockton rounded Johnson, but Raglan was on hand to clear the ball from an open goal.

On 68 minutes Lloyd’s inswinging free kick found Raglan’s head as the ball skimmed past the Tranmere keeper into the bottom left-hand side of the goal.

Tranmere pressed and were rewarded for their efforts seven minutes from time when a neat flick-on fell to Jake Kirby. His shot was blocked but fell straight to Holmes’s feet and he guided the ball in from close range.

Vale could have secured all three points in the 87th minute. Liam Rice’s free-kick found Andrew Bratt at the back post, but his header was straight at Andy Coughlin in the Tranmere goal.

Vale will face Chesterfield in the FA Youth Cup on Wednesday night. Kick-off is 7.00pm.

Newcastle Town boss ‘proud’ of players despite FA Cup exit

Newcastle Town boss Greg Clowes has praised his players despite their 1-0 defeat to Vauxhall Motors in the FA Cup Final Qualifying Round.

Motors, who are 34 places above Newcastle, were made spectators as Newcastle dominated lengthy spells of the match, with Jordan Johnson and Alan Nagington squandering chances.

The Liverpool-based side made Newcastle pay and scored through David Mannix’s close range effort at the back post.

Clowes said: “I am very proud of the lads and they did superbly well.

“We put in a good performance and we were the better team but we couldn’t find the back of the net.

“It is disappointing but the lads did not themselves down”.

Newcastle face Trafford in the Presidents Cup tomorrow (Oct 26) night and face Brigg Town on Saturday (Oct 30).

Clowes revealed he will be resting some of his side for Saturday’s league match.

“We want some of the lads fresh for Saturday so 5 or 6 will miss the match against Trafford so they have a full week of rest.”