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Sonner was again unfit, as was Miles, so changes were inevitable. Vale went 4-3-3 with Anyon, Weston, Walsh, Pilkington, Fortune, Harsley, Hulbert, Whitaker, Constantine, Rodgers and Sodje. On the bench were Musselwhite, Gardner,McGregor, Kamara, Lowndes. After the performance at Swansea last Monday hardly any Vale player could have complained about being omitted.
Vale opened the brighter of the two sides and were to remain so for most of the match.
On 4 minutes Walsh and Hulbert both received bookings for fouls.
On 6 minutes Sodje headed wide.
On 8 minutes Vale really should have taken the lead. Sodje won a corner, from which Walsh headed wide when well-placed.
On 16 minutes Miller replaced the injured Jack who had picked up a hamstring injury.
On 20 minutes Fortune went on a good run before shooting over the bar.
On 21 minutes Constantine also went on a fine run only to have his shot saved by the keeper.
On 24 minutes Constantine shot wide.
On 29 minutes Sodje went on a run from the halfway line but shot over.
On 32 minutes Vale were awarded a rare free-kick. Fortune's header seemed destined to give Vale the lead but Constantine's late intervention to help it into the net led the linesman to raise his flag. I've not seen the film but it did seem to me that if Constantine had simply left the ball then the goal would have stood.
On 34 minutes another good run by Constantine led to a Vale corner. From this the ball fell to Hulbert on the edge of the box and he hammered the ball home via a deflection.
On 39 minutes Whitaker looked to be tripped in the penalty area but the ref waved away claims for a penalty.
Just before half-time the Crewe keeper was forced wide onto the touchline and his clearance went straight to Weston. With the keeper way out of position Weston had plenty of time in which to shoot for an empty net but delayed, passed inside and the chance was lost.
On 45 minutes Constantine's run led to a shot over the bar by him.
It became obvious during the interval that Lowndes was going to replace someone. It turned out to be Hulbert, who took his usual collection of rough treatment in the first half ( he does, of course, dish this out as well). He had a problem with his calf.
On 47 minutes Sodje's shot was saved by Ben Williams.
On 48 minutes Lowndes had a shot well-saved.
On 49 minutes McGregor replaced the injured Fortune at left-back. Fortune received a good ovation from Vale fans as he left the field. There may still be a place for him next season though he is still contracted to Leyton Orient and wages could be a problem.
On 53 minutes Rix had a rare effort on goal go wide of the goal.
On 54 minutes Lowndes had an effort saved.
On 56 minutes Rodgers wriggled his way through the Crewe defence before shooting just past the far post.
On 58 minutes Constantine put Vale further ahead. With his back to the Crewe goal he hit a clever shot into the net.
On 61 minutes Miller shot wide of the Vale goal.
On 63 minutes Vale went further ahead. The ball worked its way across the Crewe area before Rodgers hit the ball fiercely into the Crewe net. He then rushed across the field to celebrate and did so in front of his old boss Dario Gradi. Foyle later criticised Rodgers for doing this and substituted Rodgers 8 minutes later though I don’t know that the two events were linked. It was odd but at the time a number of us in the Railway Stand thought that Constantine had scored the goal not Rodgers but Gerard’s pictures on the main site leave no doubt about it.
On 75 minutes Crewe came closer to getting a goal than they did in the whole game. Miller's shot brought an acrobatic save out of Anyon with the Crewe fans about to leap into the air.
On 79 minutes Lowe had a good shot which was well-saved by Anyon.
On 79 minutes Roberts was adjudged to have handled the ball in the area from a Lowndes cross. I was not well-placed to see but ref Woolmer waved play on. His linesman then flagged to indicate a penalty to the Vale. Constantine came up very slowly and hit the ball at a top speed of around 1 mph and the keeper saved somewhat easily, the ball then being cleared. The keeper had moved a long way forward but Constantine had displayed very poor penalty-taking technique.
On 82 minutes Sodje missed another good chance to score.
On 90 minutes McGregor’s foul made him the third player to be booked by fussy ref Woolmer.
Vale had a bumper 60% of the possession, 10 on-target efforts to Crewe's 6, 11 off-target to their 3, 4 corners to their 1. Vale had Hulbert, Walsh and McGregor booked. Even if I accept the justice of those three (and I don't entirely) I cannot accept that Crewe were not deserving of a similar number of bookings. On Monday Vale lost at Swansea when ref Probert had a fine match but today Vale won in spite of a poor show by ref Woolmer. The attendance was 5740 including a disappointing and disappointed 979 from Crewe.
The result took Vale up two places, above Crewe and Blackpool. It gives Vale a two-point advantage over Crewe and also a massive seven goal advantage over them, making it likely that Crewe will need to pick up three more points than Vale from the last three games if they are to finish above us. This was an amazingly easy win for Vale, against all expectation. For a while in the first half Vale had the better of things without really causing the Crewe defence much anxiety but by the end Vale should have scored many more goals whereas Crewe came close only a couple of times, both in the second half. Crewe's famed passing game never got going. Striker Maynard never posed a threat, partly because of poor service and partly because he is trying to get back to full match fitness after hamstring injuries. They were still missing Varney but Vale were missing the likes of Sonner, Talbot and Miles, though I know some of those absences actually strengthen our team. I was sceptical about the idea of playing 4-3-3, matching Crewe’s, with Constantine on the right and leaving Kamara on the bench, but it worked brilliantly. During the early part of the game when Vale were dominating without scoring I was concerned as I felt Dario would surely get his side going but it never happened.
This was above all a great team performance to which all players contributed. Vale were not disturbed by the absences or by the enforced changes during the game. Weston will need to improve his passing, which can be erratic. At times it is hard to see how he played at a higher level for a while. Nevertheless, I would still be happy to see him given a contract at the end of the season. Anyon had little to do but did it well. Rodgers was a bit pumped up for this one and his antics in front of Gradi were not welcome. Rodgers also ran to the Crewe fans when Hulbert put us ahead, shaking his fists at them triumphantly and provocatively. When players are routinely booked for celebrating amongst their owns fans it seems wrong to allow the likes of Rodgers to get away with irritating the away fans. Perhaps Foyle took off Rodgers as he was fearful he would get himself sent off ……. or perhaps he just wanted him to receive an ovation from the fans ……. or perhaps he was tired after just returning from injury. He did well enough but to announce him as Man of the Match was laughable …… he wasn’t as good as that. Perhaps it was meant to be some kind of official provocation for the Crewe people.
Before the game Vale received a cheque for £271,000 from Britannia Building Society for the affinity accounts. I gather that this represents half of one per cent of the total balances held in these Vale-related accounts. If my Maths is/are correct this means that in these accounts there must be around £54,000,000. Even if the payout represents one per cent on these accounts it would still be £27,000,000 in the accounts. Do we really have so many “rich” Vale fans? Do we have lots of people with a bit in these accounts or are there a few with loads in there? If there is so much money around I wonder if any would be tempted to put some into Vale shares? It goes against what we always say by way of explanation of our persistently low gates – that this is a low wage area etc. Perhaps Potters are capital rich and income poor or maybe they live in tax havens around the world (such as Texas, Swindon and Melbourne) and can’t actually get to the games but contribute to Vale in this way, via an affinity account.
By the way, when we played at Scnuthorpe in September they were 3rd bottom with six points from seven games and we were 3rd top. They had not won any of their three home games but beat us. They had lost three of their seven games and since then they have lost only three more games and are now promoted. They have had three good forward players for the whole season – Cleveland Taylor, Billy Sharp and Andy Keogh. Keogh left for Wolves but Scnuthorpe brought in a good replacement in the form of Beckford from Leeds on loan and he has scored some spectacular goals. Most of the rest of the team consists of fairly ordinary players. They have struggled for support all season but their success must hold some lessons as well as inspiration for clubs like the Vale.
We will lose Constantine in the summer. How about Odejayi of Cheltenham as a possible replacement? He is 25, big, quick and strong and gets a few goals. Not sure of his contractual situation but Cheltenham had some recent well-publicised financial difficulties and may have to sell him. It is the sort of market in which Vale have to operate ie getting the best we can afford even if the player would not be our first choice.
Off to that soccer outpost Gillingham next week – in my case it will be via Churchill’s home of Chartwell for the first time (as a National Trust member, not as a house guest) and hopefully to a new feature opening on Friday at Chatham called Dickens World, of which pre-opening descriptions sound wonderful. For those going for the first time to Gillingham be prepared for an unwelcome experience. Parking near the ground is difficult. Last year we arrived three hours before kick-off and were driving around for ages before parking in a street some distance away as the stewards next to the ground were unhelpful. Inside the ground you will have the pleasure of sitting in a temporary stand which has been there for ages, about as long as our Lorne Street Stand has been on the go. Their Chairman, Paul Scally, had a jumbo-sized Meccano set for Christmas ten years ago and seems reluctant to dispense with this piece of his handiwork. It is like one of those you see at motor-racing or Open Golf and there is no cover. Stewards last year were getting jumpy over Vale fans standing up and yet ignoring Gillingham fans yards away doing the same for the whole game. I would not expect their stewards or the facilities for away fans to be anything but a fair reflection of their objectionable chairman. Last year we had Dinning sent off for dissent and there was a home penalty, which was missed, with Vale getting beaten by great goals from Jarvis. I hope for better this time! Let Vale finish as high as possible.
Eddie
This post has been edited by Eddie: 15 April 2007 - 01:18 PM
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