Visitors relegated as a result of draw
Fleetwood Town finished off their amazing 2016/17 Sky Bet League One season with goalless draw against Port Vale at Highbury Stadium.
Town made chances throughout the game which tested goalkeeper Leonardo Fasan, but were unable to get the vital goal to sign off with a win. Vale turned the tables in the last quarter of an hour but couldn’t hit the target.
The draw means Town will face Bradford City in the playoffs.
Town made one change to the side that beat Gillingham last weekend as Cian Bolger came in for Nathan Pond. Port Vale were forced into two changes as Jerome Thomas and Ryan Taylor were replaced by JJ Hooper and Ben Purkiss.
The start of the game was plagued by stoppages as both sides were forced into early substitutions. JJ Hooper was replaced by Sam Foley after 12 minutes, Nathan Pond came on for Cian Bolger four minutes later and Danny Pugh was brought off for Anthony de Freitas.
minute, Bobby Grant produced the first shot on target after he won a free-kick on the edge of the Vale box. Both him and George Glendon stood over it but Grant’s low driven strike was easily saved by Fasan.thIn the 28
Town looked the more dominant side all the way through the first half but were struggling to trouble the Vale ‘keeper. They had a good chance with ten minutes left in the half from a corner but Ben Davies was unable to get a good connection.
With just five minutes left to go in the first half, Ash Hunter showed brilliant control as he brought the ball down from a bad defensive clearance, he struck the ball towards goal but it was straight at Fasan.
Vale had their first shot of the day with seconds left in the first half but Sam Kelly’s shot flew well over the bar and out of the stadium.
minute before Davies tried a shot from distance, which went just wide of the target.thTown carried on as they started out the second half the better side as Amari’i Bell almost latched onto a Conor McLaughlin shot in the 49
minute, Vale had a chance to take the lead as a good run down the left wing by de Freitas got him into a good crossing position, the ball bounced around in the box before an attempted clearance hit Dan Turner, going just wide.thIn the 54
Vale carried on piling on the pressure as two minute later, de Freitas had the ball on the edge of the Town box, he turned onto this left foot and drilled a shot on target but was easily saved by Alex Cairns.
Fleetwood tried to spin the game back into their favour as good interplay between David Ball and Kyle Dempsey earned him a yard of space on the edge of the Vale box but his shot was weak, making it easy for Fasan to save.
Town created another chance just a minute later as Glendon’s corner kick almost curled into the far post but it came off the outside of the post, going out for a goal kick.
Fleetwood looked the more likely to score with 20 minutes left as they were creating quite a few chances. Grant struck the ball from 30 yards out before Nathan Pond had a free header from a Hunter cross but it was just wide.
Vale turned on the pressure towards the end of the game but it was Fleetwood who had a goal disallowed. A cross was whipped in by Dempsey but even though the touch from Ash Eastham tipped it over the line, he was offside.
Town went all out attack in the final minutes to look for a winner but nothing was going in. They had two shots straight after each other but blocks from Fasan and Smith kept the ball out.
The last chance of the game feel to Grant as he found some space on the edge of the Vale box with a minute to go but his curled shot was pushed wide by a diving Fasan.
FTFC:Alex Cairns; Conor McLaughlin (Devante Cole, 61’), Ashley Eastham, Cian Bolger (Nathan Pond, 16’), Ben Davies, Amari’i Bell; Kyle Dempsey, George Glendon (Cameron Brannagan, 73’), Bobby Grant; David Ball, Ashley Hunter.
SUBS:Matty Urwin, Wes Burns, Victor Nirennold, Markus Schwabl.
PVFC:Leonardo Fasan; Ben Purkiss, Remie Streete, Nathan Smith, Scott Tanser (Rigino Cicilia, 72’); Sam Foley, Danny Pugh (Anthony de Freitas, 22’), Billy Reeves, Chris Eagles; JJ Hooper (Sam Kelly, 12’), Dan Turner.
SUBS:Deniz Mehmet, Kiko, Andre Bikey, Gezim Shalaj.
REFEREE:Ross Joyce.
ASS. OFFICIALS:).thMatthew Jones, Paul Marsden, Gareth Mellor (4
ATTENDANCE:4,733 w/ 731 travelling Port Vale supporters.