Newcastle Town 0 Port Vale 4

Sunday 7th July 2013

My longer-than-usual summer hiatus from football briefly ended this afternoon for a very special personal reason. I’d previously seen at least one match on 352 of the 366 days of the year though, for some reason, 7th July had always proved elusive. And what a pleasure it was to add date number 353 to my tally watching this excellent pre-season fixture. In very warm conditions more suited to cricket, Port Vale scored two unanswered goals in each half to record a comfortable 4-0 victory. Gareth Tomlin, a summber signing from Southend United, bagged a brace during the second half to add to first-half strikes from Tom Pope and Louis Dodds. Newcastle Town, undoubtedly, won off the field with a decent attendance of 1446, all of whom I’m sure went home happy like me!

Newcastle Town 0 Port Vale 4
Pre-Season Friendly
At: Aspire Stadium, Buckmaster Avenue, Clayton
Kick-off: 2-30pm
Admission: £7 seat; Programme: £1-50 (48 pages)
Weather: hot and sunny

First Half
Newcastle Town (blue/blue/white): 1. Dave Parton, 2. Matt Lowe, 3. James Askey, 4. Warren Holmes, 5. Aaron Carter, 6. Andy Nicholls, 7. Kyle Diskin, 8. Dan Skelton (capt), 9. Tom France, 10. Nathan Sutton, 11. Tim Sanders. No first half substitutions.

Port Vale (yellow/black/black): 1. Chris Neal, 6. Richard Duffy, 4. Chris Robertson, 5. Joe Davis, 2. Adam Yates, 7. Jennison Myrie Williams, 14. Chris Lines, 8. Doug Loft (capt), 11. Louis Dodds, 9. Tom Pope, 10. Ben Williamson. No first half substitutions.

Second Half
Newcastle Town (blue/blue/white): 1. Dave Parton, 2. Matt Lowe, 3. James Askey, 4. Warren Holmes, 5. Aaron Carter, 6. Andy Nicholls, 7. Kyle Diskin, 8. Dan Skelton (capt), 14. Leon Ashman, 15. Jordan Cole, 17. Ash Hill. Subs: 12. Josh Gordon (for Diskin, 55), 18. Luke Askey (for Nicholls, 55), 11. Aaron Brady (for Skelton, 70), 16, Trialist (for Holmes, 76), 1. Josh Foxall (for Parton, 80), 10. Trialist (for Lowe, ???).

Port Vale (yellow/black/black): 12. Sam Johnson, 6. Richard Duffy, 23. Liam Chilvers, 5. Joe Davis (capt), 2. Adam Yates, 15. Chris Shuker, 18. Ryan Lloyd, 16. Gary O’Neill, 3. Kaid Mohamed, 20. Liam Dickinson, 22. Gavin Tomlin. Subs: 25. Price (for Davis, 61), 19. Shay Alexander (for Duffy, 61), 14. Ben Jefford (for Yates, 61), 24. Jordan Hugill (for Lloyd, 72).

Referee: Steve Rushton.
Assistants: Simon Bennett and Mark Murfitt.

Attendance: 1446
Duration: first-half: 45:44; second-half: 45:30

Goals:
0-1 Tom Pope (5)
0-2 Louis Dodds (14)
0-3 Gavin Tomlin (52)
0-4 Gavin Tomlin (61)


Cards: None