Barrow v Port Vale, match thread

[Suffolk Blue]

The last time we beat Port Vale at Holker St in a league match:-

05-Feb-1938 Division 3 (N) Holker Street Barrow 3-0 Port Vale

Believe it or not Andy, my wife’s uncle Cliff who sadly passed away just a few years ago aged 97 and was born and lived his entire life in Burslem may possibly have played in that game.

A very good footballer in his day he played for a variety of teams in the Stoke area including Vale before the war and thanks to the wife we have a box full of his old trophies. Also a life long family friend of one Stanley Mathews and when he passed his ashes were interred on an area behind one goal line at Vale Park.

He was a tough no nonsense defender apparently but always said that his worst nightmare was having had to mark Tommy Lawton who he treated as a god. I used to joke with him that Port Vale was where old Stoke players went to die.

I know we were not a league team for nigh on half a century but the win on Saturday does sort of resonate historically.

[Bakewell Blue]

If you want to cheer yourself up, read the PV fans forum. 55 pages of post-match angst. As my grandson would say, it’s all gone Brexit on there! Mainly worried about their manager and how they have spent so much (see above) and didn’t deliver on Saturday. It makes our post-Carlisle gloom look positively cheerful.
As usual there is the “how can we lose to tin-pot Barrow with their 2800 fans”, but the occasional post does point out that we finished 8th last season and had the best home record after the top 3.
As someone else has said on here, let’s not get too excited when we win or too depressed when we lose (unless either run continues). For the moment I am just enjoying Saturday’s result and looking forward to tomorrow (with my Barrow scarf on display as I drive up from Derbyshire)

[Suffolk Blue]

Agree Bakewell. Tomorrow feels like a bit of a freebie thanks to Saturday. Just give it a go