Port Vale got their pre-season off to the best possible start by beating Newcastle Town 4-0 in their first friendly of the summer.
The Valiants have undergone a European revolution in the summer with Bruno Ribeiro being appointed as head coach and various new recruits being signed from all across the continent. Many of them were on show here as Port Vale kicked off their pre-season schedule at Lyme Valley.
In the first half though, Port Vale will have been very disappointed. Newcastle kept very firm and managed to keep the League 1 side at bay for 45 minutes, meaning the game went into the break goalless.
However in the second half the Valiants were keen not to embarrassed by non-league opposition and came out firing. They finally picked the lock of the Newcastle defence when Ryan Lloyd but a great cross in for Anton Forrester, who’s currently on trial with the club, who was able to head in. This goal will certainly help him in his case to get a permanent contract at the club.
That goal opened the floodgates as Newcastle completely fell apart. Just a short while after the Forrester goal, JJ Hooper had the ball in space 20 yards from goal and took the chance to smash home an unstoppable goal to double the lead. Then just two minutes after that Quentin Pereira showed his talent by getting to the byline and then pegging the ball back for Forrester who would get his second of the game who scored from close range.
Newcastle were able to get a hold of the game after that and stopping conceding at a regular rate, but Port Vale were still able to get a fourth to finish off the game. Dan Turner was able to bring down a high ball and put the ball across to Ryan Lloyd who was able to beat the defender to the ball and score his own goal to wind up what was a great start to pre-season.
Port Vale will hope to carry that momentum into the next friendly when they face Kidsgrove Athletic on the 16th July.
