Town: Chris Neal, Connor Goldson, Josh Evans, Will Richards, Harry Hooman (c), Shane Cansdell-Sherriff (Wayne Farmer 46), Jake Simpson, Steve Leslie, Kris Bright (Tom Bradshaw 75), Jake Robinson, Jon Taylor

Subs: Charles Stewart, Scott Keyes, Jason Wood

Port Vale: Chris Martin, Charlie Raglan, Matthew Bell, Ross Davidson, Andrew Bratt, Luke Prosser, Andrew Osei Siribour, Sam Morsy, Danny Glover, Simon Richman, James Beeston

Subs: Daniel Lloyd Weston, Jack McGowan, Kristian Cox, Ryan Connelly, Liam Rice

Town's reserves welcomed Port Vale to the Prostar Stadium as they looked to bounce back from last weeks defeat away to Sheffield United.

Town had a great chance to grab an early lead after a ball into the box was headed down by Bright, the ball fell to Will Richards but he screwed his shot over from close range.

Chris Neal in the Town goal had to be alert at times as Vale looked dangerous when they hit Town on the break.The Town stopped made a couple off good reaction saves and was commanding his box well early on.

Jake Robinson was an eager runner from early on as he looked to get in behind the visitors defence.This paid dividends on a number of occasions and he did well on 15 minutes to get a break in on goal but it was well held by the Vale keeper.

Town had another good chance on goal on 23 minutes when Harry Hooman rose well to get on the end of a Steve Leslie corner, but his header back across the goal went just over the bar.

Jake Robinson had been having a little tussle with a couple of the Vale players and the ref had to have a word on a couple of occasions.On 35 minutes though the ref was called into action after the Robbo fell on the ball on the touchline, there was a little coming together and in the incident the Vale number 3 kicked out a foot at Robbo which the ref saw and produced a straight red card.

The second half started brightly with Town looking to use their man advantage to get at Vale.On 8 minutes Steve Leslie did well to play a ball to release Jon Taylor down the left, he played a ball into the near post to find Kris Bright but his shot was blocked for a corner.Moments later Bright turned provider after he brought down the ball well with his chest to set-up Simpson but his shot was well saved by the keeper.

With 15 minutes on the clock the numbers were evened up in a somewhat bizarre way.A Town attack saw the ball played in high for Jake Robinson to challenge, but looked to have got something on the ball but the ref saw what he must have seen as a handball as he showed Robbo a second yellow card.

Town continued to push and hada number of half chances from Leslie, Bright and Simpson but nothing that tested the Vale keeper too much.

With the game nearing a close Town had a good chance to nick the 3 points when the ball was whipped back into the box and found Harry Hooman in space, but his flick went just wide of the target.