William Wigg and Tomos Millward
Despite enjoying 72% possession, the home team lacked any sort of clinical edge and suffered due to Stuart Maynard’s maladroit system.
Notts County came into the game in good form with five wins in their last nine League Two games. Port Vale also began the season well under new manager Darren Moore and will hope to bounce straight back to League One this season.
County’s structure allowed them to dominate every phase of play for the first 15 minutes of the game.
Notts County began the game well and were especially potent down their right-hand side where they looked to get the ball quickly to Kellan Gordon who would deliver the ball quickly into the box. County’s structure allowed them to dominate every phase of play for the first 15 minutes of the game. Their three centre backs and Daniel Crowley’s ability to control the tempo of the game allowed County to suffocate the Valiants.
Despite this initial dominance and high intensity, once County began to purposefully slow the game down their attacking play became stagnant and ineffective. In combination with this, Moore’s men were increasingly able to find ways to relieve pressure on their own goal and cause County problems at the other end of the pitch with Ruari Patron finally getting some success in linking up with his teammates. The deadlock was broken in the 23rd minute through a combination of Port Vale’s smart and direct play and the Magpies despondent defending. Port Vale Connor Ripley delivered a long ball over the top to Vale’s number 11, Ronan Curtis, who smartly positioned himself goalside of his opposite number and used his body well to shift the defender’s momentum and get ahead. His low ball across the box should have been dealt with by any one of County’s three central defenders but snuck through and was tucked away by Lorent Tolaj, much to the delight of the 2,000 plus away fans.
As the game continued to half-time and beyond County’s system became even more stagnant, ineffective, and lacked the necessary intensity when at home and chasing a game. Crowley’s 118 touches dwarfed any other player on the pitch but his inability to know when to play passes and up the game’s intensity held back his entire team. Maynard’s extreme emphasis on creating chances from crosses also began to frustrate as the game wore on and County became increasingly desperate to equalise. His team’s inability to deliver these crosses effectively was frustrating, Gordon completed 6/21, and his team’s lack of a Plan B meant that Vale could see out the game fairly easily.
As the game continued to half-time and beyond, County’s system became even more stagnant, ineffective, and lacked the necessary intensity when at home and chasing a game.
In a mundane match the standout performers were Ronan Curtis, who despite being substituted in the 60th minute produced the game’s best moment of quality, Vale substitute striker Jayden Stockley who won 6/8 aerial duals to provide a much-needed release valve, and Jacob Bedeau who, from Left Centre-Back, appeared to be the only one of County’s players with a hunger and desire to get back into the game.
Overall, despite a strong start from County they allowed Port Vale to get back into the game, nick a goal, and never looked threatening for the remaining 70 minutes in spite of all their possession and dominance.
William Wigg and Tomos Millward
Featured image courtesy of @baraida via Unsplash. Image use license found here (Unsplash). No changes were made to this image.
In article image 1 courtesy of [@officialpvfc] via [Instagram]. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 2 courtesy of [@jacobbedeau] via [Instagram]. No changes were made to this image.
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