Crewe Alexandra's recent proud record over our near neighbours came to an abrupt end this afternoon in the Potteries sunshine. Crewe were second best all afternoon and the home side ran out fairly comfortable winners in the end. A first half strike from Robin Hulbert ignited the derby and further goals from Vale strikers Leon Constantine and you guessed it Luke Rogers inflicted the damage. Only a late penalty save from Ben Williams to deny Constantine his second goal of the afternoon proved to be a highlight.
Crewe never really looked like picking up that hat-trick of wins over Martin Foyle's side because as an attacking sense we never conjured up enough chances to really put the Vale defence on the back foot. Basically, the front three of the Vale overshadowed that of the Crewe front three, who quickly needed a change around when Rodney Jack was forced off early with a hamstring pull.
Dario Gradi only made one change to the side that ended up demoting Brentford on Easter Monday. Midfielder Gary Roberts returned to the starting line-up in place of the injured David Vaughan, who suffered a slight reoccurrence of his groin injury in that 3-1 win.
Youngsters Mark Carrington, Shaun Miller, Paul Bignot and Shaun Miller joined the fit again Anthony McNammee on the substitutes bench.
Our former striker Luke Rodgers lined up for Port Vale and that only added a tasty ingredient to this derby encounter after what he had been saying about his former team-mates in the local media! He would end up proving his point too.
There was only local pride at stake but you wouldn't have known it by the early challenges going in from Robin Hulbert and Michael Walsh in the opening minutes. They were both caution early on for late tackles on Gary Roberts and Rodney Jack. After a robust start from both clubs, it took until the ninth minute for the first effort on goal with Port Vale striker Akpo Sodje guiding his downward header just past Ben Williams' post. Moments later Walsh should have done a lot better from a corner but he screwed his free header well wide of the mark.
Rodney Jack's afternoon then came to an abrupt end when he tweaked his hamstring in the 14th minute. A burst of pace and a cheeky back heal seemed to aggravate the muscle and after receiving a period of treatment from physiotherapist Steve Walker; it became obvious that he would be unable to continue. Shaun Miller took his place in an attack-minded 4-3-3 formation. His first touch to pull a ball out of the sky was sublime and so nearly created our first real opening of the game for Maynard.
After defender Clayton Fortune shot wildly from distance, Leon Constantine did much better when drilling goalwards from 20 yards. The shot took a slight deflection off of the boot of Julien Baudet but Williams was right behind it to make a relatively straight forward save.
In the opening half an hour or so, Crewe's efforts on Joe Anyon's goal were awfully limited. The Vale keeper didn't really have a save to make and the wall in front of him did its job to prevent a Baudet free-kick from going through.
The home side did have the ball in the net on 35 minutes when Fortune headed down a Paul Harsley free-kick into the six-yard box. Constantine applied the final touch from just in front of Williams but in doing so, he was in an offside position and the assistant's flag rightly went up.
Three minutes later though Robin Hulbert's drilled shot when through a mass of players contained in the Crewe penalty area and past Williams. It may have taken a slight deflection en route but Crewe had failed to clear their lines properly after Constantine had originally won a corner with a probing run to the by-line and were made to pay the ultimate price.
We nearly paid for a lack of concentration from Ben Williams on the verge of the half-time break, but after rushing from his goal to clear, his defenders helped him out to block Danny Whitaker's shot. Vale were certainly the better side in the first period and they finished strongly with Sodje and Constantine going close to increasing their lead with late headers.
Port Vale made a change at the interval with their goal scorer Hulbert being replaced by Nathan Lowndes. Almost immediately Rodgers so nearly created a clear opening for Whitaker at the far post, but the covering Billy Jones did enough to put the Vale midfielder off. Moments later Sodje shot straight at Williams as the Valiants went in search of a killer second goal.
Foyle then introduced Mark McGregor for Fortune. Crewe's first real sight of the Vale goal saw Ben Rix drag his volley wide of the target from the edge of the Vale box after a promising build-up in the 53rd minute.
Lowndes, who looked lively enough following his introduction to the sunny proceedings, curled a shot into the grateful arms of Williams after cutting in from the right wing. Rodgers then went one better with an excellent run to the Alex by-line. The Vale striker drifted past a couple of challenges before poking his shot past Williams. He looked odds on to score but the ball drifted past Williams' left hand post. He really could have not come any closer.
Vale did double their advantage just before the hour mark with a finely taken goal from Constantine. Whitaker's deep corner was only cleared to the edge of our box and Lowndes was able to head it back into the Vale six-yard where Constantine used his presence to control the ball on his chest. Although he had to deal with the intentions of two Crewe defenders, the towering striker was able to hook the ball over his own head and into the roof of the Crewe net. It was no more than the Valiants deserved.
Dario Gradi quickly introduced the fresh legs of debutant Mark Carrington and Tom Pope for Maynard and Rix but only a minute later our task became impossible when Rodgers scored the goal he had threatened to do. His clever header took him between O'Donnell and Jones and he thumped it low and hard past a helpless Williams. Rodgers could not hide his delight in scoring his first goal for his new club following his switch to Vale Park in January.
Soon after the hard working Rodgers made way for Malvin Kamara and was given a standing ovation from the home crowd. His departure was not greeted with so much admiration from the travelling Alex fans.
With the game all but over as a contest, Miller did get a shot on target via a deflected shot following some good approach play from Lowe, but our adventures into the Port Vale box were few and far between.
In an attempt to restore some pride, Miller did go awfully close from an acrobatic effort after Pope had managed to get a necessary flick-on to a Gary Roberts cross. Miller's superb overhead kick forced Joe Anyon into his first meaningful save of the afternoon.
Things nearly went from bad to worse for the Railwaymen when Gary Roberts was adjudged to have cut out a Lowndes cross with his arm! The referee didn't give it but quite unbelievably his assistant did. It looked awfully harsh to say the least but with the Vale fans constantly giving him stick it wasn't a total surprise when it was given. The Alex players rightly couldn't believe it and protested. Justice prevailed though.
Constantine rather lazily stepped up and saw him low shot palmed away by the agile Williams.
Although the sun was beaming down, a miserable afternoon at our near neighbours was completed when the tannoy announcer relieved that Rodgers had claimed the Man-of the-Match Award up. It just about summed up our afternoon.
