Port Vale fire off goals to beat Maldon & Tiptree
Four goals in seven first-half minutes helped League One Port Vale avoid an FA Cup upset against Maldon & Tiptree.
The Isthmian League North outfit, 99 places below their hosts in the footballing pyramid, making them the lowest-ranked side to have reached this season's first round, briefly threatened a huge shock when Anisius Lewis volleyed home a surprise opener.
But Darren Moore's Vale responded and were 4-1 up twenty minutes later, after two goals from Ruari Paton and strikes from George Hall and Devante Cole.
Cole added a fifth after the break to seal the Valiants' spot in the second round and end the Jammers' cup journey - which started in August in the preliminary rounds.
Devante Cole scored twice to help Port Vale into round two
The last time Port Vale hosted a non-league side at home in the FA Cup they were on the wrong side of an upset against King's Lynn in 2020, and for a few brief minutes early on at Vale Park they were on the way to becoming another – much bigger – scalp.
Maldon & Tiptree, who shocked Leyton Orient at the same stage in 2019, took the lead when Cameron James whipped an early cross into the box for Lewis to volley home from close range.
For 10 minutes, the 383 fans in the away end were in dreamland, before two goals in two minutes turned the tide, and settled any nerves among the home fans.
Paton rifled home the equaliser from 20 yards after a neat turn on the edge of the box, before Hall volleyed in Cole's delivery from eight yards out less than a minute later.
Hall and Paton combined to add a third two minutes later, the latter firing home on the turn from the former's cross.
Any hopes the stunned visitors had of getting back into the game were extinguished five minutes after that, when Cole smashed home a fourth via the underside of the crossbar from close range.
Only a fine save from visiting keeper Elliot Justham prevented home captain George Byers adding a fifth, before Paton fired just wide and Justham blocked another goal-bound effort.
Kevin Horlock's side found it just as hard after the break to keep pace with their League opponents, but did put bodies on the line to stop Paton and Cole adding to their respective tallies.
Both were involved when the fifth did arrive, however, as Cole poked home from Paton's corner following Byers' flick-on.
Moore: 'Overall it's job done'
Moore happy with 'swift and clean' Vale response
Port Vale manager Darren More told BBC Radio Stoke:
"It was almost a no-win situation for us today, so it was all about just getting the job done. We spoke all week about that, because we were going to get no favours.
"Credit to Maldon & Tiptree, they came here and didn't want to sit in. We wish them every success in their league campaign.
"When they scored I didn't flinch because we had so much of the game to play. It was better they scored early, and after that the response was swift and clean and we put the game to bed after 20 minutes.
"It shouldn't have to come to that – it was sloppy from us to concede – but we took the game away from them after that.
"At half-time we just wanted to keep the right mentality, and it presented us the chance to give some of them a few minutes with games in the EFL Cup, league and the FA Cup now coming up.
"There was some good finishes, so it's good to have the winning feeling back and get the ball in the back of the net."
