Valiants fail to fire as strugglers manage to battle away for point

PORT Vale missed the chance to end their midweek home hoodoo against Harrogate. CLIVE YOULTON continues his review of the Valiants' season...

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THE chance for Port Vale to win again at home on a Tuesday night for the first time in nearly three years came against Harrogate Town.

The Yorkshire side were languishing near the bottom of the table.

Surely, Vale’s time had come to wipe away that sorry statistic.

But once again, even though the theory was there, the practice was found to be way short of expectations.

Vale limped to a 0-0 draw even though there was one positive in that they had stretched their unbeaten run in League Two to 10 matches.

Darren Moore's side were yet to lose in the league in 2025 which was a massive plus but this was a fifth draw in those 10 games and their second in succession.

In reality, it seemed to be two points lost rather than one gained.

The result kept them in sixth place and was a huge opportunity missed as only Bradford City in the top seven won on the night.

At least Vale were able to make it through without the injured Jaheim Headley, Ben Garrity and Jayden Stockley, who they lost at just the wrong time in the campaign.

But they lacked urgency and made poor decisions at wrong times and failed to make the most of good openings in the first half while spluttering along without purpose in the second.

Moore went back to changing his team again, making three alterations to the starting lineup, having named an unchanged side the previous game.