delarue1976
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FA Cup 1st Round: Port Vale vs Maldon & Tiptree
The FA Cup — sacred chalice of English football, holy grail of the working man’s dream — rattles into town like a ghost train and we’ve jumped on board. 1st Round Proper, numbers drawn out of the hat, names put… Continue reading
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AFC Wimbledon 1-1 Port Vale: Our Achilles Heel
Where we end up this season, it’s all down to the back line — the last stand, the trench, the place where dreams get mugged in the alleyways. Defending. It’s not been great, has it? Not great at all. Ok,… Continue reading
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AFC Wimbledon vs Port Vale: Tripping On London
Tunstall. Crack of dawn. Streets half-lit and half-forgotten. Furlong Road stands quiet, like it’s waiting for something to happen. Sitting on the doorstep with a Sterling red and a coffee. The town’s still asleep but the day’s ready to tell… Continue reading
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Mo Faal – The Enigma and The Moment
That goal against Accrington Stanley the other night — watch it again. See what he does. He receives the ball with his back to goal, ten yards inside the Stanley half. Controls it. Holds off two defenders. Turns and sweeps… Continue reading
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Accrington Stanley vs Port Vale: The Joy of the Vertu Trophy?
Here we go. The Vertu Trophy. What even is it? A shimmering illusion, a corporate-branded fever dream, a midweek distraction dressed up as destiny. On the one hand, it’s a tinpot sideshow, a glorified training session with a sponsor’s name… Continue reading
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Port Vale: International Duty Robs Us Of Aussie Joe
Big Bird is grounded! Aussie Joe Gauci, our keeper, our feathered sentinel with hands like velvet and feet like jazz-hands in a thunderstorm, is off to wear the green and gold, repping his country against whoever dares. He won’t be… Continue reading
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Port Vale: Derek I’m Gutted!!! – The End of an Era
The fanzine is dying, man. Twenty-five years of ink-stained rebellion, of typewriter dreams and sardonic truths, and now Andy McCormack — the beat poet of Burslem terraces — is hanging up his pen, his keys, his soul. Derek I’m Gutted!!!… Continue reading
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Port Vale 0-0 Northampton Town: A Grim Clash of Clay & Leather
Saturday 4 October 2025, 3pm Vale Park, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent 12:35pm, The Bulls Head. The ale is a beautiful autumnal amber, the talk is loose, and suddenly they’re here — the visitors, the wanderers from Northampton, that town of stitched hides… Continue reading
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Barnsley 0-2 Port Vale: Exorcising Ghosts
Saturday 27 September 2025, 3pm. Oakwell Stadium, Barnsley. We rolled into Oakwell like pilgrims chasing absolution, minds heavy with the weight of August 5th, 2023 — opening day, opening wound. The sun was high but the memory low, seven goals… Continue reading
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Port Vale 0-2 Arsenal: Madri, Titanic and the road to Vale Park
Wednesday 24 September 2025. 5pm and the Bulls Head is humming, a low jazz of clinking pint glasses and belly-laughs, three hours deep in Titanic Ale and the kind of pre-match buzz that fills the soul with joy. St. John’s… Continue reading
tales from the paddock 