the beautiful game
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Port Vale and The Return Of 4-4-2
It went massively out of style, didn’t it? One minute 4‑4‑2 was the backbone of British football, the formation you could sketch on a beer mat over a few pints on a Friday night, the next minute it was treated… 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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Wigan Athletic 1-0 Port Vale: We’re Grim Up North
Let’s start with the positives. Or the positive. I could only find one. Marvin Johnson. For the short time he was on the pitch he looked a cut above anyone else we have seen at wing-back this season, I’m talking… 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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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 vs Arsenal: Breakfast And A Morning Stroll
Wednesday 24 September 2025, 08:30. The morning began, as mornings ought, with a ceremony of nourishment both modest and magnificent. An omelette, golden and obedient, enfolded within its curving embrace a portion of smoked haddock – firm, fragrant ,and faintly… Continue reading
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Port Vale 2-1 Mansfield Town: The Reprieve
Saturday 20 September 2025, 3pm. Vale Park, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. Ninety-five minutes gone and the world hangs on a whistle, the ref a god with a plastic trinket, Ronan Curtis standing there like a man on the edge of a dream… Continue reading
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Port Vale: Searching For Satori – Part one
Friday 12 September 2025 Digs booked. Full tank of diesel. Five thirty AM, leaving Burslem, saying goodbye to Lemmy and the Angel, Henry Doulton, the streets of Arnold Bennett – all now just ghosts in the rearview, heading towards Exeter,… Continue reading
tales from the paddock 