Crewe Alexandra 2-1 Port Vale
- Published
Crewe secured their first points of the season with a derby win over Port Vale.
The home side took the lead when Marcus Haber flicked on a free-kick for George Ray to hook in from close range.
Vadaine Oliver then headed past keeper Chris Neal at the far post from Matt Tootle's cross to make it 2-0.
Vale were given a lifeline from the penalty spot when Ray pulled back striker Jordan Slew, who took two attempts to beat keeper Ben Garratt, but they could not find an equaliser.
Garratt denied Vale top scorer Tom Pope when he brilliantly tipped over his far-post header in the dying minutes.
The Alex's first win of the season ends a dismal run of five straight losses - but still leaves them a point adrift at the bottom of the League One table.
Vale's fourth successive league defeat drops them down to 22nd - just two points ahead of Crewe.
Crewe manager Steve Davis told BBC Radio Stoke:
"It's been a long time coming. We dominated the first half and scored two very good goals.
"We let them back in the game with a penalty, but we were well in control - I couldn't see them scoring. I don't think they'd had a shot at goal.
"Second half, they upped the tempo. We couldn't quite live with it, although we stood firm and defended very well.
"It was a great game. End to end. Lots of action in both boxes. It had everything. Everyone gave everything they had got."
Port Vale manager Micky Adams told BBC Radio Stoke:
"If certain areas of the team are letting us down then we will have to think of ways to improve it.
"That could either be trying to move some players on and get some more in.
"We have to say that, if we are not happy with what the players are producing then we can't just go with it and keep going with it. We have to do something about it.
"So we could look at ways of moving people on if we can and opening up some sort of space in the budget for other players to come in."
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