Hallam Hope scored on his Robins debut as Town maintained their position at the top of the table, after a clinical victory against tenth-placed Port Vale.

The Barbadian finished off a wonderful team move, involving Lloyd Isgrove, Michael Doughty and Rob Hunt, to double the Robins’ lead, after Diallang Jaiyesimi opened the scoring on 25 minutes.

Town pushed for more goals in the second-half and killed the game off on the hour mark, after Doughty beat goalkeeper Scott Brown from 25 yards, with a trademark free-kick.

It was the perfect recovery after last week’s defeat to Newport County last week.

Jaiyesimi and Kaiyne Woolery both had good chances to score with the latter hitting the post, but it was a strong performance nevertheless in front of a raucous 7483-strong crowd at the County Ground.  

First Half

Neither team threatened in the first 25 minutes, with both sides struggling to really impose themselves on the contest.

However, after nearly half an hour without a chance, the Robins created four good chances in four minutes.

Diallang Jaiyesimi and Kaiyne Woolery had two strong efforts saved by Port Vale keeper Scott Brown, and also hit the crossbar through Rarmani Edmonds-Green. 

Vale’s resistance was breached just before half-time, when Jaiyesimi found space inside the penalty area and curled a shot that clipped Vale defender Leon Legge on its way into the far corner.

Hallam Hope finished off a beautiful team move to score on his debut at the County Ground.

Lloyd Isgrove drove into the heart of the Valiants’ defence, before cutting the ball back to Michael Doughty, who threaded an inch perfect pass to the adventurous Rob Hunt on the left-hand side.

Hunt took the ball perfectly in his stride and proceeded to cross the ball to the lurking Hope who slid in to double the Robins’ lead.  

Second Half

Jaiyesimi continued to terrorise the Port Vale defence and would’ve scored his second of the match, if it weren’t for the strong hands of Brown palming the effort away at the near post.

Rarmani Edmonds Green came close to finding the net when Isgrove found him at the back post with a floated cross, but Brown was there again to keep Vale in the contest.

Seconds later, Brown’s efforts counted for nothing as Doughty finished the contest off in stupendous style.

After Isgrove was fouled 25 yards out, Doughty stepped up and bent a perfect curling free-kick over the wall and into the top left-hand corner.

Town were hungry for more goals, and Woolery would’ve got himself amongst the scorers, if his effort on the turn had only hit the inside of the post, rather than the outside.

Vale created some minor opportunities, but there was no need for Town keeper Steven Benda to muddy his goalkeeper kit, as Town nullified any threat from the away side.

Anthony Grant had a dinked effort cleared off the line by the Vale defence but was named as Man of the Match regardless.

Town soaked up any pressure and held on to claim the clean sheet as well as three more points.