Tues 19th & Sat 23rd September

[valefan16]

Frustrating half. Bread and butter long cross into the box which neither defender nor keeper went for gifted Burton the lead, we’ve played some lovely football at times and created chances, hit the inside of the post but in the end Garrity heading in a cross was the route to the equaliser.

Arblaster is on a different level tonight.

Burton have come and had a go all be it some time wasting and disgraceful play acting by Lubala to try and get Balmer sent off.
Don’t like to see that at all.

Not over this one, we did go sleep another time when Burton let us off the hook with a poor header so need to take our chances or we could get punished.

 

[leedsvaliant]

Comfortably the better team. Burton scored a poorly defended goal and then have preceeded to waste time at every opportunity. They really are pathetic. Great header by Garrity but we should have had 3 or 4 other goals. Hit the inside of the post and the keeper has made a couple of good saves.

Just need to keep doing what we're doing as they can't cope with our passing at times.

 

[valefan16]

Comfortably the better team. Burton scored a poorly defended goal and then have preceeded to waste time at every opportunity. They really are pathetic. Great header by Garrity but we should have had 3 or 4 other goals. Hit the inside of the post and the keeper has made a couple of good saves.

Just need to keep doing what we're doing as they can't cope with our passing at times.

Their high press is a problem especially early on but once we bypass that they look vulnerable.

Just worry about our defending tonight.

 

[dwightyorke]

Vale always lose to Burton that's why I'm going win my bet tonight as I knew they would beat vale tonight.

 

[Si Robin]

Once Olayinka was sent off we were always up against it - it should probably be more than 2-0 now to be honest.

 

[Laker]

What’s the record for games without scoring at the beginning of a season? Eight games must be getting close to a record?

 

[CTFCfan99]

What’s the record for games without scoring at the beginning of a season? Eight games must be getting close to a record?

Don't know but we can't be far off. We must also be in with a shout of breaking the lowest points record for a season.

 

[Luke Imp]

What’s the record for games without scoring at the beginning of a season? Eight games must be getting close to a record?

The resident statto on our forum reckons they equal the EFL record set by the old Halifax Town.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

The all time record without scoring is 11 games and two clubs did that, most recently Hartlepool in 92-93. But that's just in a normal sequence rather than from the start of the season.

 

[valefan16]

Beat ourselves tonight, sloppy defending and despite having plenty of chances we couldn’t find a deserved equaliser.

We are going to have to find ways against sides that do the Stevenage style and deal with it so leaves questions, we knew it would be typically Vale but we have to be getting something out of that. As a football side we were miles ahead but if you don’t do the basics at the back you get punished and that’s what’s happened tonight.

We’ve won games having far less of it than we did tonight but need to bounce back quickly at the weekend as we have a difficult run of fixtures and don’t want to undo the good work we’ve done.

 

[kieran_vale]

Well you’re never going to win them all. Fair play to Burton, in terms of away performances that’s pretty much what you set out to do especially with the run they were on. Typical L1 this season though, anyone can beat anyone. Loved to have got something but no disaster on to the next.

Almost pulled it out of the bag right at the end but the keeper saved point blank from Wilson.

 

[K-Win]

Superb first half performance, followed by an excellent second half comeback from Barnsley that left us hanging on for the points. Collins half time changes really changed the game. Very happy to hear the final whistle.

7 points from Peterborough home and Derby and Barnsley away to go top. Can't argue with that and things are looking good. Back to Fratton for Lincoln on Saturday.

 

[valefan16]

Well you’re never going to win them all. Fair play to Burton, in terms of away performances that’s pretty much what you set out to do especially with the run they were on. Typical L1 this season though, anyone can beat anyone. Loved to have got something but no disaster on to the next.

Almost pulled it out of the bag right at the end but the keeper saved point blank from Wilson.

One of those nights we had the chances to win two or three games, poor decision and their keepers had a blinder but still average 2 points a game so a decent start.

We’ve actually created more tonight than we have in any of the wins but was one of those games.

Just got to not let it knock us and go to Cambridge and do what we have been doing.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Interesting to see Cheltenham are on course to do substantially worse than both us and Forest Green did...

 

[kieran_vale]

One of those nights we had the chances to win two or three games, poor decision and their keepers had a blinder but still average 2 points a game so a decent start.

We’ve actually created more tonight than we have in any of the wins but was one of those games.

Just got to not let it knock us and go to Cambridge and do what we have been doing.

Honestly I’m not going to lose one ounce of sleep over that. We played well enough tonight just sometimes it’s your night and sometimes it isn’t. This one was the latter. Arblaster was outstanding again and nice to see Willo last the 90.

I’m not sure why Loft was on the bench over Thomas though. Could have done with his pace at the end when they were tiring but minor quibble.

 

[Don Tonberry]

Superb first half performance, followed by an excellent second half comeback from Barnsley that left us hanging on for the points. Collins half time changes really changed the game. Very happy to hear the final whistle.

7 points from Peterborough home and Derby and Barnsley away to go top. Can't argue with that and things are looking good. Back to Fratton for Lincoln on Saturday.

That's the best I've seen us play in a first half of football for a very long time. Could have easily had five or six in there.

We couldn't deal with the tactical change in the second half and a howler from Norris made the final minutes far more nervy than it should have been. Barnsley away is one of the league's most difficult fixtures, so it doesn't really matter how you win.

Roll on Lincoln on Saturday.

 

[valefan16]

Honestly I’m not going to lose one ounce of sleep over that. We played well enough tonight just sometimes it’s your night and sometimes it isn’t. This one was the latter. Arblaster was outstanding again and nice to see Willo last the 90.

I’m not sure why Loft was on the bench over Thomas though. Could have done with his pace at the end when they were tiring but minor quibble.

Yeah assume he’s got a knock.

It was miles from the shambles of April against these, they’ve done a shithouse job as you often expect under Maarmria but credit their keeper, had we scored 6 or 7 they could have had no complaints and he’s kept them in it.

Teams will come and try and do that to us, time waste and be physical and we’ve got to find a way to deal with that if we want to keep challenging.

The football is there, Arblaster again was outstanding tonight, he is one of the best players at this level without doubt and when we get it down and play it’s a joy to watch but need to be more clinical as a team.

Ojo was a bit off it tonight mind and the defending should of been easy for the first two of their goals so still have some of that Barnsley away fragility in there as that was up there for the defending for their goals.

 

[kieran_vale]

Yeah assume he’s got a knock.

It was miles from the shambles of April against these, they’ve done a shithouse job as you often expect under Maarmria but credit their keeper, had we scored 6 or 7 they could have had no complaints and he’s kept them in it.

Teams will come and try and do that to us, time waste and be physical and we’ve got to find a way to deal with that if we want to keep challenging.

The football is there, Arblaster again was outstanding tonight, he is one of the best players at this level without doubt and when we get it down and play it’s a joy to watch but need to be more clinical as a team.

Ojo was a bit off it tonight mind and the defending should of been easy for the first two of their goals so still have some of that Barnsley away fragility in there as that was up there for the defending for their goals.

Just seen a tweet from club apparently Loft didn’t come on due to a calf issue in the warmup (I’ll be honest he looks like he’s got a lot of fitness he needs to build up anyway) and Thomas was not feeling well. Different under Crosby to DC, that would be viewed a state secret then.

 

[Soz]

poor defending really but we played alright and created plenty enough to win that game. One of those nights.

I assume loft had some sort of knock because he was named on the bench but never saw him at half time or warming up second half

ref was an utter joke again but only our selves to blame for the loss.

 

[valefan16]

Just seen a tweet from club apparently Loft didn’t come on due to a calf issue in the warmup (I’ll be honest he looks like he’s got a lot of fitness he needs to build up anyway) and Thomas was not feeling well. Different under Crosby to DC, that would be viewed a state secret then.

Yeah just seen, Chislett had an issue was well which was another big loss.

 

[Soz]

Just seen a tweet from club apparently Loft didn’t come on due to a calf issue in the warmup (I’ll be honest he looks like he’s got a lot of fitness he needs to build up anyway) and Thomas was not feeling well. Different under Crosby to DC, that would be viewed a state secret then.

fair enough, crazy how weak the bench looked tonight with JT/Loft/chizzy unavailable

devine had a bit of a stinker, arblaster is absolutely unreal though

 

[valefan16]

poor defending really but we played alright and created plenty enough to win that game. One of those nights.

I assume loft had some sort of knock because he was named on the bench but never saw him at half time or warming up second half

ref was an utter joke again but only our selves to blame for the loss.

Ref was ok in general decisions but was really poor with their antics. Books their defender for time wasting 15 minutes in but then never got a grip of it after that. The keeper laying down for about two minutes late on and some of the antics of Lubala who was clearly trying to get Kofi sent off.

That said the free kick he gave against Plant was ridiculous late on.

Overall I’m not sure where the time wasting thing is going, some referees seem to be hot on it and add the time on, others don’t all of a sudden.

 

[mozzavale]

Comfortably the better team. The gulf between the teams in terms of quality was huge at times. Unfortunately for us a mix of shocking defending, an embarrassingly incompetent referee and bad luck (good luck for Burton) conspired to turn what cod easily have been a 4 or 5 - 0 win to an undeserved defeat. One of them horrible nights where we just fell into their trap and gave them something to cling to. Everyone wants their team to win that way, but everyone absolutely hates being on the receiving end of it. So frustrating to watch them get away with playing the way they did.

 

[valefan16]

fair enough, crazy how weak the bench looked tonight with JT/Loft/chizzy unavailable

devine had a bit of a stinker, arblaster is absolutely unreal though

It was better than last season when we had to throw Derek on against these!

Devine was a bit hit and miss although when he did link up with Arblaster it was good.

Just bricking it for January for the Blaster, he’d walk into a Championship side he’s that good (to be fair he was sniffing around their promotion side last season at times).

Not sure how the hell we pulled it off to sign him on loan, especially considering the crap we’ve had on loan in recent seasons more often than not!

 

[mozzavale]

Ref was ok in general decisions but was really poor with their antics. Books their defender for time wasting 15 minutes in but then never got a grip of it after that. The keeper laying down for about two minutes late on and some of the antics of Lubala who was clearly trying to get Kofi sent off.

That said the free kick he gave against Plant was ridiculous late on.

Overall I’m not sure where the time wasting thing is going, some referees seem to be hot on it and add the time on, others don’t all of a sudden.

The ref was out of his depth tonight. Was loving the role of pantomime villain. Absolutely thought everyone was there to watch him. Why he only added 8 mins on only he knows, which should be a minimum, and yet the ball was only in play about 4 mins of those 8 mins. He was a knob head basically, which is a pre requisite for a lot of refs these days unfortunately.

 

[leedsvaliant]

Absolutely classic Vale. How often has this happened over the years?

It was just one of those games tonight. We were much the better side first half...they scored with practically their only chance. We then started the second half really sloppily and gave them something to hang on to, which is a disaster against that sort of side. Their time wasting was next level, aided by a very weak ref. I counted around 3 minutes wasted by the keeper alone....how on earth he only added on 8 minutes was a joke, and another 2 or 3 minutes were wasted in added time wasn't added on. It really was a joke at times.

I'm not too concerned to be honest. We play that game again tomorrow and we win. The ball just never fell quite right. We looked way above them football wise but some games we will lose when we don't deserve to. That's football for you.

 

[mozzavale]

Absolutely classic Vale. How often has this happened over the years?

It was just one of those games tonight. We were much the better side first half...they scored with practically their only chance. We then started the second half really sloppily and gave them something to hang on to, which is a disaster against that sort of side. Their time wasting was next level, aided by a very weak ref. I counted around 3 minutes wasted by the keeper alone....how on earth he only added on 8 minutes was a joke, and another 2 or 3 minutes were wasted in added time wasn't added on. It really was a joke at times.

I'm not too concerned to be honest. We play that game again tomorrow and we win. The ball just never fell quite right. We looked way above them football wise but some games we will lose when we don't deserve to. That's football for you.

Absolute nail on the head. Agree with every word. Honestly think if we win that 4 or 5 - 1, everyone there goes away saying that's a fair result, we were that dominant.

The ref blowing up on 8 mins 20 seconds was laughable considering how little of the added time we actually played. He couldn't wait get home. Truly appalling refereeing display tonight.

 

[leedsvaliant]

What the fuck was their keeper all about? Why do some footballers have to be such bellends? I often forget that most of them are still virtually kids and they act like it. He went nuts at the final whistle like he'd won the world Cup or something. I think Burton knew they got away with one last night. They knew we were far better than them but as I say, it happens. Even Man City get a shock defeat here and there.

 

[Si Robin]

I have the following:

3rd tier record from start of season - Burnley 97/98 - 6 games
Top flight record from start of season - Crystal Palace 17/18 - 7 games
EFL record from start of season - Halifax 1990/91 - 8 games

If we don't score within 10 mins on Saturday then we will break the reacord.

The interesting thing about those three teams is that they all managed to stay up.

Our game was over in the 4th minute last night - I can understand why the ref sent Olayinka off, his studs are up and he gets the player in the back of the head. However, he doesn't catch the player in the head if the player isn't bent over by a couple of feet. The foot wasn't really that high and he has every right to go for the ball.

Once that happened we were always going to lose to nil, it was just a case of when Posh scored and then how many. That we got to 0-0 at half-time and actually come closest to scoring (Keena hitting the post from 20 yards) gave us that little bit of hope, but they were swarmed all over us in the second half and we could barely get out of our defensive 3rd.

No arguments with the second red card - Butler-Oyedeji's second yellow is textbook stupid challenge whilst on a yellow.

Wade really should be sacked today, but rumours are circulating that he'll be in charge on Saturday. He came out swinging in his post-match interview with comments like "no-one's going to come in, click their fingers and make us a top team in this League", but it's a busted flush now I'm afraid. I just don't see the logic in keeping him on. It's delaying the inevitable and it's almost doing him a favour by letting him go with some dignity.

 

[valefan16]

What the fuck was their keeper all about? Why do some footballers have to be such bellends? I often forget that most of them are still virtually kids and they act like it. He went nuts at the final whistle like he'd won the world Cup or something. I think Burton knew they got away with one last night. They knew we were far better than them but as I say, it happens. Even Man City get a shock defeat here and there.

To be fair I think the Ripper did the same at Oxford! He’d had a great game to be fair and that was a huge result for Burton last night in their predicament.