1920–21 Port Vale F.C. season: Difference between revisions

The season started positively enough; a 2–0 win over new club [[Leeds United F.C.|Leeds United]] helped to establish a start of six points from the opening six games. On 25 September, the “Valiants” delighted their fans by recording their first league victory over [[Potteries derby|rivals]] [[Stoke City F.C.|Stoke]] in ‘a stirring duel’ which ended 2–1. The following week they achieved the double over Stoke by recording a 1–0 victory at the [[Victoria Ground]]. This encouraged fans to travel in their numbers to see the team beat [[Nottingham Forest F.C.|Nottingham Forest]] 4–1 at the [[City Ground]]. Injuries to Price and Brough then saw the team slump, and this continued when new signing, [[Manchester City F.C.|Manchester City]] goalkeeper [[Walter Smith (footballer, born 1884)|Walter Smith]] was arrested for assault on the day of his debut. The arrest is likely to account for a majority of the six goals he conceded that day at [[South Shields F.C. (1889)|South Shields]]. The side recovered to record heavy victories over [[Hull City A.F.C.|Hull City]] and [[Stockport County F.C.|Stockport County]], with [[Bobby Blood]] scoring six of the Vale’s ten goals in the two games. Vale lost both their games to [[Bristol City F.C.|Bristol City]], though Blood demonstrated his fearsome [[Shooting (association football)|shooting]] power by blasting a [[Penalty kick (association football)|penalty kick]] at City’s keeper – the keeper saved the penalty to keep a clean sheet but broke his wrist in the process of saving the [[Shooting (association football)|shot]]. Blood was sold to [[West Bromwich Albion F.C.|West Bromwich Albion]] for £4,000 in February – then a [[List of Port Vale F.C. records and statistics|club record]] for [[List of West Bromwich Albion F.C. records and statistics|both clubs]]. The effect on the [[Football pitch|pitch]] was telling, as Vale went on to record just two wins in their remaining sixteen games, with a meagre six goals scored. One of the victories was a ‘flash in the pan’ win over FA Cup semi-finalists [[Cardiff City F.C.|Cardiff City]], Cardiff fielded a weakened team and watched in bewilderment as Page scored the winning goal from the penalty spot, stubbing his foot in the process.