Penalty heartache as Vale see dramatic comeback fall short

PORT Vale were humbled 3-2 by second-bottom Carlisle United and were denied a point with a last-minute penalty save - but they remain top of League Two with three matches to play.

- Clive Youlton

The Valiants have a single point margin and are tantalisingly close to automatic promotion and the title, but nobody saw this result coming and they only had them-selves to blame in an action-packed, tension-filled scrap.

In a raucous atmosphere, they were simply swept aside in a 15-minute spell either side of half-time.

They will now know that just turning up and not applying themselves is not good enough to win matches as their first-half non-display showed, but promotion and the title remain in their hands.

It was only Vale's ninth League Two defeat of the season, and even though they made a game of it coming back from 3-0 down, it was not enough as they left empty-handed - Lorent Tolaj the most disappointed after seeing his stoppage-time penalty superbly saved by Gabriel Breeze.

For only the second time since September, Darren Moore kept an unchanged line-up, and one can only imagine where Vale would be now if he had settled on his best XI much earlier in the campaign.

They went into this match with four wins on the bounce while all their rivals had faltered.

The only change in the squad came with Jason Lowe replacing out-of-favour Ethan Chislett, while Antwoine Hackford and Rekeem Harper were again left out of the picture altogether.

There was a huge crowd at Brunton Park as the hosts were backed by an attendance boosted by a ticket offer.

After a heartwarming minute's applause for former United and Rochdale player Joe Thompson, who died from cancer this week aged 36, the visitors caused early alarm from Mitch Clark's long throw into the box which was frantically hacked away.

There was some good early pressure from Vale, with Clark's throw-ins a weapon.

On the left flank, Jack Shorrock and Ben Garrity linked well and it was clear the visitors had the measure of the home side early on, although that was to change dramatically as the half wore on.