OPINION: VALIANTS NEED MORE GOALS TO TAKE PRESSURE OFF DEFENCE

IT's Doncaster Rovers next for Port Vale and if ever there was an example of the club having stepped up a league it was against Stevenage.

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In League Two last season, Vale kept plenty of clean sheets and won games purely because the opposition forwards weren't good enough to capitalise on slack defending.

There were games where strikers literally missed open goals. Vale looked vulnerable at set-pieces and often got away with it.

They won games by the odd goal 15 times in the league. On six occasions they only scored a single goal but gained a point.

Four times they didn’t score while still earning a point. In League One they are less likely to do that given the quality of opposing marksmen.

Jamie Reid is a prime example.

One false move - allowing him acres of room at the back from a long throw that was inadvertently flicked on - and Reid was there to bury his first chance. He wasn't going to miss.