FA Cup match report: Port Vale 0 - 1 Huddersfield Town

Nov 30 2009 by Dougie Thomson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

But Vale survived, just as they did early in the second half when Kay whistled a drive just over and Ainsworth, making only his second start of the season in place of the injured Anthony Pilkington, romped forward only for Collins to get in a key challenge.

Ainsworth was off target after Vale could only partially clear the resultant corner and the home side, who put out both Sheffield clubs in this season’s Carling Cup, then enjoyed their best spell of the match, with Collins’ goalbound header cleared by Williams and Haldane’s shot blocked by Kay.

Adams threw on veteran striker Geoff Horsfield at the expense of defender Prosser, but it was still Town who were creating the better chances, with Kay testing Martin with a low drive and shooting wide either side of a Novak attempt which was only just over.

While it was job done as far as Clark was concerned, opposite number Adams admitted: “We had the first real chance of the game but didn’t take it. I said beforehand that we had to take our chances because I knew we wouldn’t get that many.

“And I have to say I was disappointed with their goal. I thought it was poor defending and we didn’t show enough aggression in our box and it cost us.

“You can’t allow good sides to get a foothold in a game.

“I said to the boys at half-time that we needed to turn the game into a cup-tie, get more bodies forward and stop them from playing as best we could.

“We did that and I thought our second-half performance was good other than our deliveries in the final third, which were not up to the required standard.”