Cod Army lose 1-0 against Vale
Fleetwood Town's Youth side succumbed to a narrow defeat against Port Vale on a sun-kissed Tuesday afternoon in Lytham.Omar Haughton netted the only goal in the opening eight minutes, as Vale hung onto the win, despite a valiant effort from Craig Madden's men.
Madden made changes to the squad, with the injured Louis Myers replaced by Michael Tettey and striker Mamadou Otabi coming in for fellow forward Jonny Conway.
Both teams started the game fairly evenly, with the young Cod Army getting a foot hold early on.
It was Fleetwood who would have the game's first opportunity, with Shane Glean spinning his man and rasping an effort just past the near post, while almost immediately after, defender Danny Smith headed over the bar from close range.
The Staffordshire outfit would soon take the lead though through Houghton, who shrugged off his man before rifling a left footed effort into the far of corner of Liam Bleeker’s goal.
Vale seemed buoyed by this and Fleetwood had to defend well as the half wore on; Bleeker keeping Jonathon Kapend's effort out with a low stop on 18 minutes.
Jordan Hancox was making some inspired runs down the wing for the Cod Army, however Vale defended well.
The visitors looked to strengthen their lead, and Town were indebted to Danny Vile on the half hour mark as he headed away from danger.
At the other end, Tettey then saw his effort hacked off the line by the combination of goalkeeper Pickering and his fellow defender as Fleetwood looked for a leveller with the half drawing to a close.
It would be Vale who had the first opportunity of the second half with Reeves seeing his long range effort skim just past Bleeker's far post.
A lovely interchange of passing between deep lying midfielder Conor Smith and Jordan Hancox ended with the winger drilling a low ball into the area which was met by the feet of Shane Glean, but his strike was clawed away by Pickering.
With an hour gone, Fleetwood were applying a large amount of pressure onto their Vale counterparts, but could only muster up half chances, with both Tettey and Otabi going close.
Bleeker later denied Dan Turner's driven effort with five minutes to play, and the Cod Army huffed and puffed for an equaliser in the final stages, but unfortunately were unable to find one.