FL2: Port Vale v Torquay Utd - 1 Sept 12

Think I've heard his name mentioned once three times

Good result as we were missing senior players; Stevens, Downes and Macklin coupled with two youth players in the squad (cracking debut by McKenzie and no dips into the loan market. Still not convinced with Jarvis as second striker.

Still a stroll up the Dumpling after dinner beckons.

With so many out, this was a damn good point!! The bench looked very threadbare today. Well done to Mackenzie on what sounds a decent debut.

I'd suggest that being unbeaten at this stage is largely irrelevant since you can still get relegated unbeaten

A decent point by all accounts but didn't someone say at the start of the season that we didn't have enough depth? *whistles*

It's pretty much all been said already: a point we would have accepted before the game and one with which we were content afterwards. A grossly unattractive goal to concede but one that, one way or the other, was on the cards for most of the second half. Although we scored on the break we probably did so during our strongest phase of the game. A goal, it is safe to say, Ian Morris enjoyed scoring.

Excellent performances from McKenzie and Craig but moments of unsteadiness from more experienced members of the defence. Thompson battled away and did some good stuff. Rene was Rene in all his guises.

James B is correct when he says that forty-six draws would probably get you relegated but I think it's a more solid start than that. The draw at Fleetwood looks a better result than it did a fortnight ago and I guess the disappointment so far mainly involves not beating Cheltenham. Today Port Vale took the game to us but where running out of ideas by the end of the first half. At the interval I thought the game may be ours. But Port Vale regrouped and rallied to put us on the back foot thereafter. I'm happy enough tonight with the outcome.

It's probably been mentioned on this forum before that Vale Park is a 1950s creation and was intended to be a grand scheme for a major venue in the Potteries. Ultimately it's significance was to move Vale from Hanley back to Burslem just as the shoppers and businesses were heading in the opposite direction. From the outside you can see a mixture of original 1950s brickwork alongside rather later developments:

















Inside it's an all-seated stadium that holds around 20,000 making today's 4,700 crowd look rather small, most of whom were sat in the stand that runs along the left-hand side when viewed from the away end:













My pictures are intended to give an impression of the ground rather than the match. For match action I'll leave it in the hands of the professionals such as Mr Bond, formerly of the fair town of Torquay:



And who remembers Don Arnold of Westward Sportsdesk fame? And we all thought he was an Argyle supporter:

I doubt many of them would be playing someone of Mackenzie's youth and inexperience at centre-back, though, unless all 5 of those injuries were defenders. And I certainly imagine that most of them would have brought at least one in in that eventuality

Judging by Ling's account and the BBC highlights, we were very fortunate today

good point there,like been said so many out,ok not pretty,onwards and upwards...simon