Vale have sold all their tickets so should be a decent crowd.

Pools 1 Vale 1

Depends which Pools turn up. If the lot who played against Salford pull on the blue and white shirts, it will be a comfortable win for the Valiants. Maybe a different outcome if the lads from the Mansfield game are there. Vale will seriously want the points whereas Pools not all that bothered.

As a Pools fan living in Stoke i hope the real Pools turn up to see off the soap dodgers.
They will be bringing a sell out following and will be up for it and it could well be liveley.
Vale think they are going up so put a spanner in the works and ensure they return to Stoke empty handed.
PLEASE POOLS PLEASE.

Which bit of stoke? I live in Keele.

Decent first half,but wouldn't score in a brothel.
Crap second half & wouldn't score in a brothel.

How did the Ref miss that handball? It was right in front of him.
And how many shots did we have on target, I can only remember that weak effort from Fergie. Crawford put in his usual "over the bar" efforts.
Thought the goalie and Hull had decent games.
Once Port Vale were reminded what they were there for at half time there was only one team going to win that game.
We have got to solve our poor goal scoring record. Bogle and Carver don't appear to be the answer, although Carver seemed to be more effective in his general play than he has shown so far, except in front of goal.

I forgot to mention the free kick we got in a dangerous position in the first half. I muttered go on Fergie bury it and then watched as Bogle took over and hit the advertising board at the top of the rink end.
Absolutely woeful.

Our free kicks & corners are beyond a joke.

You have to go down to 19th in the table before you come across a team who have scored less than us.
Until we solve that problem we will struggle. It is the most important facet in the game of football after all.

I make that 2 home games in a row that the opposition keeper has not had a save to make. Don't think there was a massive gulf between the sides, it was pretty even really. The major difference was their determination to block crosses/shots and to win second balls, apart from that it was even. Main thing we lack is pace and creativity, strikers get zero service.

Bogle and Carver as our main strike force is a joke. With Lee's dealings we cannot change things, only other strikers are Grey and Mols. Couldn't even fill the bench today for fucks sake.

Horrendous free kick.
Only a few inches away from putting a window thru in Belk Street.

From memory, Bogle's two "shots" & one from Crawford, all in the first half, were our only attempts at goal apart from Ferguson's daisy-cutter, but none of the first three were on target. Neither our strikers or our wing-backs are got any decent service

the way he ran up to kick the ball reminded me of a rugby conversion.

main thing is that in the first half we matched them and were the better team. second half they started to run the show. never in the whole game we looked like scoring, which gives the opposition more confidence to push on and risk something. Makes me wonder by what i saw yesterday why we have not seen more of the keeper and hull on the pitch. was certainly less worried when the ball was being crossed until they scored.

Yeah thought they both played well, keeper looks very assured and claimed a couple corners which we don't normally see!

DDLDLL ...that's the form of the last 6 league home games, 3 points out of 18, dire. If you rid a team of it's goal scoring threat that's what you get, some of our passing yesterday was the worst I've seen for a long time, we managed to hand momentum to PV by constantly giving the ball away with suicidal passing. Only 3 goals scored in those 6 games too, our season obviously ended in late February it would seem. Please don't bark up with we're in a transitional period as we should not be using that as an excuse.

The trouble is we aren’t in a transitional period, when we should be. This is the season’s arse end of fading away football, the dying breaths of a seasons end that should be being used more constructively, but it ain’t, it’s just marking time till the hols. It shows, there’s nowt to fight for except pride ……. I see no characters in the team either.

It's a bad habit to get into laying down tools 10 games before the season ends. We built this season as survival at all costs. Massive rebuild in the summer I want to see some ambition this season with the club.

Heard fans saying we have ambition well let's see a tiny bit between now and August. It's ok talking about it let's now see good players come here and let's at least sort out the rink end. Maybe I'm asking too much.

I see a team with few characters, little positive aggression and an alarming sameness.
We can play some nice tidy football, there’s no denying that, but we’re in the land of the giants, literally…… and nice tidy football is brushed aside by most of the teams we encounter.
We look like a nice group of lads, but we need a lot more than that, it really is time to face up to the reality of life in this division, because we’re not going anywhere with the present formation.

Yes transitioning from a goalscoring midfield to a non goalscoring midfield, mark my words if we fill our team next season with hard working, committed, capable players who collectively score very few goals it will achieve only one thing...relegation. Goals win games not hard work, and if we haven't got a goal threat from all areas
of the team we will struggle.

I believe the accepted idea is to have a ‘hard working, committed team of capable players’ ….. with talent. Sorry to challenge you, but ‘hard work’ is what’s needed in any team at this level.

Living in Stoke i have so far avoided any Vale fans but one phoned me last night. I was very mature about it as I got my wife to tell him I had gone to the pub.
I am still gutted as with Mansfield losing leaving Vale in the driving seat for promotion.
Anyway I will be at Rochdale on Monday hoping for an improved performance and three points.
PS for Mr Irrelevant I live in Penkhull Stoke.

Could he have saved their goal though. Looked straight at him although from quite close.

That is a good description of teams like vale and northampton who have had a better league season than pools. Along with hard work height and strength in the side are not to bad qualities to have also.

A win.