Port Vale won the first derby game of the season as our former loanee striker Marc Richards and Kris Taylor scored the goals to cancel out Shaun Miller's opener for Crewe after 33 minutes. In truth the Vale probably deserved the three points after having the better of the second half at Gresty Road.

The visitors secured the bragging rights but had to deal with some extensive pressure from the Railwaymen in the closing stages, who thought they had salvaged a point in injury time when Byron Moore volleyed home a rebound of off the Port Vale keeper Chris Martin. The 'goal' was ruled out for offside with both Miller and Moore trying to get a decisive touch to a superb cross from Billy Jones. It looked it too and afterwards Dario Gradi said he didn't argue with the decision.

Crewe huffed and puffed all afternoon but didn't really create enough chances to trouble the Port Vale keeper Chris Martin enough during the 90 minutes, especially in the second half.

Following on from last weekend's impressive 3-2 win at Bradford City; Dario Gradi selected the same side for the visit of Port Vale this afternoon. Danny Shelley kept his place on the right hand side of midfield with Aman Verma getting the nod ahead of Luke Murphy on the substitutes bench.

Former Crewe Alexandra loannee Marc Richards captained Port Vale on his return to Gresty Road, with former Crewe Academy youngster Adam Yates named on the bench.

The derby game kicked off in bright sunshine and at a good tempo. In a frantic start to the game both sides were struggling to get a foothold off the ball and produce some real quality in the final third, saying that the visitors stuck a Crewe post after the lively Lewis Haldane accelerated past James Bailey and Ashley Westwood before unleashing a shot that David Button struggling. There was just two minutes on the clock! It set the tone.

Port Vale certainly made the better start with full-back Sam Stockley shot across the box after being found in space by Jason Jarrett. Stockley was then spoken to the referee after a late challenge on Joel Grant.

The Alex keeper Button then produced the pass of the afternoon to nearly put Grant through but John McCombe did well to cover and guide the ball out of play.

Although it was end-to-end stuff, real chances were few and far between. Crewe's best effort of the early exchanges came after 20 minutes when Miller headed down into the path of Calvin Zola. Crewe's leading scorer shielded the ball intelligently before turning and forcing the first meaningful of the save from the Port Vale keeper Chris Martin, who pushed it behind for a corner. It was better from Crewe.

Almost immediately, Marc Richards produced a piece of sublime skill to pull the ball out of the sky before releasing Louis Dodds, but he couldn't keep his shot down from 25 yards out. Both teams were then restricted to long-range efforts, with Brayford shooting over after he was picked out by left back, Ashley Westwood, on the edge of the Port Vale penalty area.

From a Port Vale corner on the half an hour mark, Richard helped one over from a good position. In that much space, he should have at least forced a save from Button.

The breakthrough came on 33 minutes after a corner was cleared to Ashley Westwood some 25 yards from goal. He spun the ball out first time to the original corner taker Steven Schumacher and his cross was guided home by Shaun Miller for his second goal of the season. Miller's controlled finish on the run gave Crewe the advantage and should have seen us go on to finish the first half strongly.

Crewe then lost Calvin Zola through injury with five minutes of the first half remaining. The towering striker received treatment for what appeared to be a groin strain but was unable to continue. Anthony Elding replaced our leading scorer.

Schumacher shot over after he combined again by Westwood before Crewe were caught on the break once again by the pace of Haldane, Vale's star man on the afternoon set-up Richards but shot straight at Button from a great position. He should have scored.

In stoppage time, Mat Mitchel-King misjudged a long ball over the top and conceded a cheap corner when heading backwards towards Button. From the resultant corner, Richards powered a header past Button for the equaliser. A gripping first half had ended 1-1.

The second half began with the Valiants again creating a good early chance. A forceful shot from Kris Taylor had to be pushed into the air by Button and he had to respond quickly to push the loose ball away from the head of Richards from on his own goal line.

McCombe was booked for a shirt pull on Miller down the touchline, before Vale lost Dodds through injury. Robert Taylor came on for him. Jarrett was also booked following a challenge on Schumacher. Shaun Miller went in the book for Crewe for jumping into a tackle on full-back Sam Stockley.

On 55 minutes, Joel Grant forced a decent save from Martin after an encouraging run, but that it was it from Crewe for a while as Port Vale began to dominate the game.

Kris Taylor headed a Haldane cross into the side netting and Richards couldn't quite keep his shot down after some more Vale pressure. In response Danny Shelley fired over the top from 25 yards out.

A tiring Westwood certainly had his hands full by the pace and power of Haldane and after a slip close to our box, he pulled the game's outstanding performer to the floor. Westwood would soon after be replaced by Billy Jones for the closing stages.

Port Vale were certainly having the better of the midfield area with Jarrett and the hard working Anthony Griffin driving the visitors on. Richards had a shot blocked for another corner.

Elding got a Brayford cross, caught under his feet and a quality cross from the Alex striker just missed Shelley at the far post. There were still chances there at both ends.

Vale grabbed theirs with just over 10 minutes remaining. With Crewe penned back in their own box, Kris Taylor took the ball in front of Button and from a tight angle arrowed it into the top corner. It was a wonderful finish from the winger, who had guided it home awfully close to the by-line. From a Crewe point of view it was a disappointing goal to concede.

Crewe came strong again in the last ten minutes but never really created that real chance until the disallowed goal arrived in stoppage time. Elding tried to guide an Ada cross to the far post but no-one was prepared to take the gamble and rush in. Moore was introduced for Shelley and his pace made a difference up against a tiring Vale defence.

In stoppage time, Crewe thought they had salvaged a point when Jones delivered a wonderful cross that Miller reached to force a save from Martin, but Moore was on hand to turn the rebound over the line. The celebrations soon died down when the realisation kicked in that both had strayed just offside.