PORT VALE 3
Tolaj 27, Stockley 52, Garrity 90+7
MK DONS 0
STAR MAN
RONAN CURTIS
Port Vale
PORT Vale skipper Ben Garrity was hailed by manager Darren Moore after his late goal added gloss to their win over MK Dons.
Garrity, who’s had a month out with injury, came off the bench late on to seal a well-deserved victory for Vale.
Lorent Tolaj and Jayden Stockley also got their names on the scoresheet to help ensure the Valiants bounced back from a midweek defeat against Colchester – their first in 12 league outings.
“When he’s marauding onto any balls like that, he’s really powerful,” Moore said of Garrity.
“The big thing for him is that he had a lot of time to think about it. He had the whole stadium willing him on.
“So for him to come up with that real cool, composed finish was really pleasing for him.
“And it’s the icing on the cake for all of us really to see our captain back and to see him be on the pitch for 10, 15 minutes maximum. But to come up with a goal as well, it goes to show the importance [of him to us].
“So all round today, it’s been a real good day for everybody connected to Port Vale. It was an important three points for us and it just settles us back down.
“We now get a full week to work, which is great before we start another little busy period.”
Vale started the match brightly and nearly took an early lead when Tolaj fired wide from Ronan Curtis’ cross.
The Swiss forward made no such mistake in the 27th minute to put the hosts ahead, calmly slotting the ball past Connal Trueman having dispossessed Nico Lawrence and burst towards goal.
The visitors came close to equalising just before half-time, but Luke Offord’s header hit the top of the crossbar and went behind for a goal kick.
Vale doubled their advantage within seven minutes of the restart, with Stockley getting on the end of Curtis’ delivery and guiding the ball into the bottom corner. It would have been 3-0 moments later had Trueman not produced a stunning save to keep out Connor Hall’s goalbound header.
Alex Gilbey had a chance to halve the deficit in the 77th minute, only to blaze a firsttime effort well over the crossbar.
And a good day for the Valiants was capped off in the eighth minute of stoppage time as club captain Garrity, a late replacement for Tolaj, marked his return from injury by dinking the ball over Trueman after being played clean through by Curtis.
The Dons ended a run of seven matches without a win by beating Morecambe last Saturday, but they’ve now lost seven of their last nine games and remain in 18th position.
“It’s probably the quietest I’ve heard a dressing room after a game,” interim head coach Ben Gladwin said.
“After what was achieved last week and the feeling that was created throughout the week, I think everybody will be really, really hurt by it.
“But football doesn’t wait for anybody, so we have to pick ourselves up, learn from it, review it and move on.
“They come out in front of a lot of people and they don’t want to make mistakes.
“But we can’t afford to be that way. You’re never going to threaten the other team’s goal that way and we have to match the other team’s intensity. It was a really poor performance.”
PORT VALE: Amos 7, Debrah 7, Heneghan 7, Hall 8, Clark 7, Byers 7, Walters 7 (Croasdale 70, 6), John 7, Tolaj 8 (Garrity 82), Curtis 9, Stockley 9 (Umolu 70, 6). Subs not used: Broome, Shorrock, Hackford, Richards.
MK DONS: Trueman 6, Offord 6, Lawrence 6 (Hogan 65, 6), Maguire 6, Lemonheigh-Evans 6, Crowley 6, Tripp 5 (O’Reilly 52, 5), Tomlinson 6, White 6, Gilbey 5, Orsi-Dadomo 6 (Thompson-Sommers 64, 5). Subs not used: MacGillivray, Kelly, Sanders, Waller.
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