fa-cup
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Port Vale and the FA Cup: What if Chelsea Shit The Bed?
Saturday is coming. Quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Away at Chelsea. It’s just sitting there on the horizon like some great shimmering promise or threat – I can’t quite tell which, and that’s half the thrill. I’m letting go of… Continue reading
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Port Vale and the Unending Misery of League One
That little bit of hope the Bolton game gave us – do you remember that? Of course you do. It’s still clinging to the edges of the week like smoke that hasn’t quite dispersed. Only last Saturday, wasn’t it? And… Continue reading
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There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
The board goes up – six minutes. Six. Added. Minutes. And I swear something inside me just snaps like an old elastic band that’s been left in the sun too long. I’m done. Absolutely shredded. Head gone, legs gone, soul… Continue reading
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Port Vale: Going Down Fighting and the FA Cup Fever Dream
There is definitely something happening, right? You can feel it under the skin now – a stubbornness, a resilience, a refusal to lie down that simply didn’t exist a few weeks ago. There’s fight again. There’s spirit again. There’s belief… Continue reading
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Port Vale: Ball Number Four
Tonight the balls will rattle in the bowl and the ghosts of giant-killings will lean in close, because the FA Cup 4th round draw is upon us and Vale are still breathing. Skin in the game, knuckles scraped, after a… Continue reading
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FA Cup 2nd Round: A Flicker of Light in the Gloom?
It’s FA Cup 2nd round weekend, a brief detour from the hideousness of our league situation, a chance to breathe, to galvanise, to overcome, to find some answers in this absolute shitshow of a season. We host Bristol Rovers – … Continue reading
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Port Vale 5-1 Maldon & Tiptree: Without Mercy. Without Remorse.
It was all over in twenty-four minutes of glorious chaos, four goals in a nine minute spell from Vale enough to deprive the nation of a Sunday afternoon giant-killing. It began with a dream and a stumble. Five minutes in… Continue reading
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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
tales from the paddock 