Substitute Jack Lankester scored a stoppage-time equaliser for Crewe Alexandra in their draw at Vale Park against 10-men Port Vale last night.
Manager Lee Bell named an unchanged team from last Saturday’s 2-0 home win against Notts County with Jamie Knight-Lebel and Adrien Thibaut returning to the bench following their international appearances. Former Alex loanee Rekeem Harper started for the hosts, former Alex youngster Ben Amos was on the bench while former loanee Conor Grant was not involved.
The opening chance and goal came in the 3rd minute as Shorrock volleyed Aston Villa loanee Rico Richards’ cross from 20 yards out before the first Alex chance, where Max Conway headed a Joel Tabiner corner over the bar 22 minutes later. A defensive mistake allowed Richards to drag his shot wide on 28 minutes before Tabiner would sting the palms of Connor Ripley from just outside the area with the final kick of the first half.
Vale would be reduced to 10 men 4 minutes after the break as Harper was shown a second yellow before Matus Holicek would curl wide in the 57th minute. Max Sanders would test Ripley with a free-kick that was taken short before Cooney would force the keeper to tip over a long-range strike. The equaliser came in the second minute of stoppage time as Conway’s low cross from the left was converted by substitute Lankester from 6 yards out.
The next games for the Alex see them travel to Carlisle United on Saturday before returning to the Alexandra Stadium to host Bradford City the following Saturday, both games also on Sky.
Final Thoughts:
I think most fans would have taken that going into the game but it feels a little disappointing to have only come away with a draw after that second half.
It looked as though the white-bricked Vale wall had done everything to hold on for the win with Connor Hall getting on the end of most things that came into his box.
Vale Park
League 2
25/11/2024 8:00 pm
Attendance: 10022
Referee: Thomas Kirk
| Port Vale | Crewe Alexandra | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shorrock | Lankester | ||||||
| Ripley | Marschall | ||||||
| Sang | Connolly | ||||||
| Hall (c) | Demetriou (c) | ||||||
| Hart | Williams | 82 | |||||
| Cover | Cooney | ||||||
| Croasdale | Holicek | 69 | |||||
| Harper | Sanders | ||||||
| Shorrock | 58 | Tabiner | |||||
| Richards | 58 | Conway | |||||
| Chislett | 90 | Tracey | |||||
| Stockley | 58 | Bogle | 58 | ||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Amos | Booth | ||||||
| Heneghan | 58 | Knight-Lebel | |||||
| Curtis | 58 | Lankester | 58 | ||||
| Lowe | 90 | Lunt | |||||
| Paton | Powell | 82 | |||||
| Hackford | 58 | Breckin | |||||
| Baker-Boaitey | Thibaut | 69 | |||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 9 | Goal attempts | 24 |
| 1 | On Target | 6 |
| 4 | Corners | 8 |
| 13 | Fouls | 9 |
| 2 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
| 1 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 35 | % | 65 |