David Artell believes that the injury to the Port Vale goalkeeper Ray Boot was an overall game changer. The visitors’ goalkeeper appeared nervous from the off in the local derby and his poor mistake led to the opening goal scored by Ryan Wintle. Boot should have collected a free-kick delivery from James Jones with relative ease but seemed to take his eye off it and it squirmed out to allow Wintle to nod home the opener after just 7 minutes.

Boot soon dropped another straight forward cross from Harry Pickering and he continued to be jittery until he suffered a calf injury after 22 minutes. He was replaced by Sam Hornby and he went on to have an inspired game for the Valiants.

Artell admits: “The best thing that happened for Port Vale was the goalkeeper getting injured. That is not to belittle their goalkeeper but it was a genuine game changer. I am sure Neil Aspin would agree, because he had dropped two and had looked indecisive.

“In the end, he has made the decision for them by getting injured but Sam Hornby has come on and made some excellent saves. The save he made late on from Eddie Nolan was top drawer. The story was nearly all about the two goalkeepers, but our lads showed that perseverance and thrust to get something from the game.”