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Swindon 6, Port Vale 0

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Swindon Town totally dominated relegated Port Vale by winning 6-0 at the County Ground this afternoon. Town had 6 different goal scorers during the game and ensured that they will be playing League One football next season.

Believe it or not, Town actually started off on a bit of a slow foot. Port Vale went close to scoring within 3 minutes of the game starting but then things started to get bad for the relegated Vale as they could not figure out how to string 2 passes together.

Within 16 minutes Town took the lead thanks to a Lee Peacock strike which settled the nerves of many of the home fans.

After that goal, they just kept coming and coming. only 5 minutes later Craig Easton would volley home the ball to give Town a 2-0 lead on 21 minutes. After the second goal went in you could easily tell that it was going to be a long afternoon for Port Vale.

On the 33rd minute Jack Smith made it 3-0 for the home side after scrambling to get the ball from a clueless Port Vale defence.

Town ran Vale ragged and made it 4-0 as Anthony McNamee smashed the ball in the corner of the net to open his Swindon Town scoring account.

The fans were thinking, “What is going on here?” But it got better, just before half time Michael Timlin hit a thundering shot towards the Vale goal which passed keeper Chris Martin to make it an incredible 5-0 at half time.


Miguel Comminges Returned From Suspension


Half time had murmurs of 10-0?? and How many more would we score?

The second half did not see loads of goals sadly as half of the 150-200 Port Vale support returned to Stoke.

With Town sitting comfortably, Town boss Maurice Malpas brought Ben Joyce on for Simon Cox for a go up front.

Joyce had scored for the reserves in the week and Malpas thought now was a good time to see what he could do.

Joyce got stuck in right away and just missed giving Town their 6th goal. Joyce would be rewarded deep into injury time as he smashed the ball past the diving Martin in the Vale goal to make the score 6-0.

The game would finish 6-0 to Swindon. Finally, Swindon took their chances. Town have now ensured they will be playing League One football next season.

Roll on Bristol Rovers.

Player Ratings

Peter Brezovan- 6
To be honest Brezovan had very little to do so it is a bit hard to rate him. His kicking was a bit suspect thanks to the wind though.

Miguel Comminges – 7
Superb link up play by Comminges. Never stopped running as usual. Please sign your contract now!!!

Jerel Ifil – 7
Solid performance by Ifil. Part of me feels that Ifil’s somewhat poor form this season may be down to Hasney Aljofree being alongside him? The players are a bit too similar.

Jamie Vincent – 7
Worked well alongside Ifil and made some good clearances. Vocal as always.

Jack Smith – 7
Has done well since returning to the side. Scored a goal which was unexpected but took it well. Deserves a new contract I think.

Jon-Paul McGovern – 6
Probably one of the only players that Port Vale somewhat figured out. His passing was spot on most of the time.

Craig Easton – 7
Superb again in midfield. Easton and Timlin in midfield is a better combination than Peacock and Easton in my opinion.

Michael Timlin – 8
Fantastic throughout. I hope Malpas is able to convince Timlin to sign permanently at the end of the season. Easton and Timlin are fantastic in the middle of the park.

Anthony McNamee – 9
Why is this guy not playing in the Championship at the very least? His crossing is bang on and the crowd gets a buzz with his trickery and skill. Probably the best all round player the team have had for years.

Lee Peacock – 7
Isn’t it strange? Paul Sturrock moved Peacock to midfield as Peacock was hardly scoring. Malpas moves him back at front and he is finding the back of the net again. Cox and Peacock may just work.

Simon Cox – 8
Worked his back side off. Unlucky not to score on a couple of occasions. Never stops running.

Kaid Mohamed – 6
Ran around a bit and didn’t really look out of place. Has some talent and should maybe be given another season.

Billy Paynter – 6
Paynter did well when he came on. It was almost inevitable he would score against his old side and almost did. Linked up well with Joyce at the end.

Next Match
Not the tallest player but didn’t mind getting stuck in and throwing his body around. Was unlucky not to score 2 goals. Took his goal well towards the end of the game.

Manager Rating
Maurice Malpas – 9/10 – Said it was only a matter of time before Swindon hammered a team and he was spot on. Was right to give Ben Joyce a shot after the team were still leading 5-0 around the 70th minute. Spot On Maurice.

Opponent Rating
Lee Sinnott – 5/10 – The scoreline probably doesn’t tell the whole story. Vale were still reeling from their relegation last weekend and you could see the team lacked confidence. Sinnott gave goalkeeper Chris Martin his first start for Vale and his defenders let him down big time.

Port Vale Fans
The fans deserve credit. Even though they were down 5-0 at half time, those who stayed to watch the second half (about 100 of them), made some noise and kept singing all game.

Match Stats
For all the stats from today’s match please CLICK HERE

Next Match
Coca Cola League One: Bristol Rovers V Swindon Town, Tuesday 22 April 2008, 7:45pm kick off at the Memorial Stadium.


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Vital Swindon Blogger

3 comments

  • STFC_Gazza says:

    Certainly was not the most attractive game but was great to see us putting away our chances!

  • bromley says:

    I thought you lot were lucky yesterday. We more than matched you and with a decent ref who knows? Billy Paynter is a disgrace for setting up the sixth, i felt we had got back into the game at that point and could have come away with a 5-5 draw, but it wasn’t to be. Good luck for next season.

  • lawz1981 says:

    glad to see you can laugh about it , good peformance thought vale was the worse team to come to the county ground in years . Good to see there fans cheering for us at the end

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