Fleetwood Town

Town topple Vale

Fleetwood Town secured a hat trick of clean sheets with an impressive 2-0 victory against npower League 2 leaders Port Vale at Vale Park. Having briefly gone top for the first time since 2010, Micky Adams side returned to second place with Gillingham winning at Southend. Town manager Graham Alexander made one change from the goalless draw with York, Damien Johnson promoted from the bench to replace Jamie Milligan in midfield.  Vale remained unchanged. There were early chances for both teams,with the league's leading scorer Tom Pope squandering opportunities for Vale.  David Ball tested Chris Neal with a diagonal shot from Dean Howell's pass and went one better Town in the 26th minute when he turned in Junior Brown's free kick from the right for his seventh goal of the season.  Town went two up through defender Alan Goodall's close range header six minutes before half time. Johnson's free kick found the defender who out-jumped Richard Duffy on the 6-yard line.  It was Goodall's second goal in four matches after scoring his first for the club at Gillingham.  Town maintained their record of not being behind at half time all season. Vale were unable to gain a foothold after the break.  Louis Dodds wasted the chance to pull back when he fired over from eight yards in the 53rd minute.  A penalty miss did not help their cause.  Jennison Myrie-Williams was fouled by Dean Howell and his unconvincing spot kick was saved by Town keeper Scott Davies.  The attempt reflected Vale's performance on the day and their performance overall bore little resemblance to their commanding 5-2 win at Highbury. Town now go five games unbeaten under Alexander and return to the play-off places with the three points.  It's back on the road again on Saturday, Northampton the destination.