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Stockport County 1 Port Vale 0

Simon Smedley
3/ 9/2008

COUNTY responded perfectly to Saturday’s disappointment by easing past Port Vale at Edgeley Park last night.

The young Hatters impressed on the night and made progress thanks to Leon McSweeney’s well-taken early strike.

Jim Gannon made four changes to the side beaten by Scunthorpe on Saturday, with Peter Thompson and Stephen Gleeson away preparing for international duty, Anthony Pilkington now out for a couple of weeks with an ankle injury, and skipper Gareth Owen dropping to the bench.

It was one of the few stars from Saturday that got the Hatters off to a great start though. After four minutes McSweeney latched onto a diagonal pass from Carl Baker, turned inside Vale defender Luke Prosser, then smashed home a fizzing low drive past ‘keeper Chris Martin from the corner of the penalty box.

Baker went close soon after from 20 yards, but there was a let-off for County on 17 minutes when Kyle Perry planted a free header well wide from just eight yards.

Marc Richards tried his luck as he volleyed just wide for the visitors, but County responded shortly before the break when Paul Turnbull headed McSweeney’s cross narrowly wide.

Baker brought a fine save out of Martin minutes after the restart, then on 58 minutes County’s dynamic front-man thought he had scored, only for a linesman’s flag to curtail his celebrations.

Teenager James Vincent was making the most of his start and he forced Martin into another smart save, while Gary Dicker leapt high to head just wide late on.

COUNTY: Fon Williams, Rose, McNulty, Dicker, Baker (Owen, 77), Raynes, Tunnicliffe, Turnbull, McSweeney, Mainwaring, Vincent. Subs not used: Rigby, Tansey, Havern, Green.

PORT VALE: Martin, Taylor, Stockley, Taiwo (Griffith, 75), Prosser, Howland, McCombe, Perry, Dodds (Rodgers, 9), Richards, Glover (Richman, 69). Subs not used: Slater, Lawrie.

COUNTY’S former England Under-20 international defender Rob Clare has been forced to retire from football at the age of 25. Clare, who made more than 200 appearances for the Hatters since joining the club from Derby County as a teenager, has finally succumbed to a succession of problems caused by a stress fracture of the tibia. Read what Clare has planned for the future in next week’s Express.