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Key events
56 mins: Now Vale have an opportunity to send in a set-piece. Ellborg is equal to the delivery from Brown though.
55 mins: Sunderland are finally turning up the heat a tad. Here comes an O’Nien long throw … which NOBODY attacks and Vale’s defenders can watch it bounce harmlessly into the arms of Gauci.
54 mins: I’m astonished that Le Fée opted to chip it into the scrum of bodies there rather than test Gauci from 25 yards or so. The Sunderland fans weren’t best pleased with his decision either.
Ben Waine has gone into the book for a pull-back on Le Fée. Probably a decent booking to take from a Port Vale perspective.
52 mins: Ah that’s a clumsy foul from Ojo on Diarra, in a spot Vale would prefer not to concede a free-kick. The Sunderland fans are behind the goal their team are attacking in this second half.
Enzo Le Fée may fancy a crack at goal from here.
50 mins: It’s slow going in terms of buildup play from Sunderland right now. Talbi has sunk to the turf after getting a blow in the face from Lawrence-Gabriel, but it’s nothing too serious.
48 mins: Ethon Archer and Rhys Walters are two Vale players who really stood out in the first half, for me. The former is lightning quick and has been an outlet up front throughout and the latter has done well to bring the ball down in midfield under pressure and get passes away.
Gauci makes an important save after a melee, of sorts, in the hosts’ box following a Sunderland corner.
46 mins: There’s a snapshot from Talbi early in proceedings but it’s way over the crossbar. Sunderland are going to have to get a lot closer than that.
Second half: We’re back under way.
Tyler Magloire has replaced Cameron Humphreys at the back for Vale.
Will we see Andre Gray in the second half? He’s on the Vale bench.
“We’re one game away from the quarter-finals,” he said before this game. “And we don’t know what the draw would be but it could be a big team away and a lot of the lads, and the supporters, haven’t experienced that. I’ve been there and done it but it’s still a big occasion. As a footballer you want to play at the highest level as much as you can.”
It is more than likely Port Vale will draw another Premier League if they get through the next 45 minutes. Then they’d be 90 minutes from a Wembley semi-final.
We’re nearly ready for the second half.
Maybe Steve will be drawing those curtains if he’s watching from his bedroom and this Sunderland display continues much longer.
I’m off to grab a quick brew before the second half madness commences.
Steve McQuade gets in touch on email:
Lifelong Sunderland fan, resident in the Potteries for decades with a bedroom overlooking the ground. Fond memories of Vale Park being a happy hunting ground, but also went to support the Vale.
Top memory: Denis Smith’s promotion party after Sunderland won 1 – 0 back in the 80s at Vale Park. Eric Gates with about 10 minutes to go. Pretty sure it is on YouTube still.
Port Vale’s scores in the FA Cup since beating Maldon & Tipree 5-1 in the first round in November:
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Port Vale 1-0 Bristol Rovers (2R)
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Port Vale 1-0 Fleetwood (3R)
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Port Vale 1-0 Bristol City (4R, AET)
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Port Vale 1-0 Sunderland (5R, HT)
HT: Port Vale 1-0 Sunderland.
The added time period brought a half-chance for Ballard, who headed from a deep cross tamely at Gauci, but was otherwise well negotiated by Port Vale.
Regis Le Bris has some work to do in his half-time team talk; he will not be impressed with Sunderland’s showing so far. Yes the pitch isn’t ideal, but the Black Cats haven’t been authoritative enough in midfield and they’ve been too easily irked by Vale at set-pieces. The home team go off to a standing ovation at the break – they’ve been brilliant.
Three added minutes at the end of the first half. No idea why. There’s only been one stoppage I can remember.
45 mins: Diarra jinks between a couple of Vale players and surges down the right before a fizzing low cross goes across the six yard box, evading everyone. The home fans were holding their breath then.
44 mins: The stats tell us that Port Vale have had six shots, to Sunderland’s five, with one each on target.
Jon Brady will be delighted, providing his team can marshal this to half-time. We shouldn’t get too many added minutes.
42 mins: Sunderland are building up a head of steam, of sorts, before the break. Angulo, who has looked one of their brighter players, pops a left-footed shot at goal but Gauci is there to save.
40 mins: Yet another misplaced Sunderland pass leads to another Vale opportunity on the counter. Again Ballard gets himself in harm’s way, blocking from Archer.
Can the visitors regain control and hit back before the break?
39 mins: A Port Vale breakaway brings to the crowd to their feet once more, Ojo takes too long to feed Archer and Ballard is able to shift across to intercept, albeit conceding a throw-in.
From that throw, Brown gets a half-chance to steer goalwards from Archer’s low cross-cum-shot. Wide.
37 mins: I’m not sure the classic cliche of the pitch being a ‘leveller’ has been very applicable in recent professional football… until today.
35 mins: There’s no doubt the bobbles on the Vale Park surface are slowing Sunderland down. On a couple of occasions Talbi has stopped in his tracks after an errant touch. The inside left area in the half Sunderland are attacking is particularly poor.
33 mins: A big chance for Diarra as Gauci comes steaming out of his goal to stop a through-ball and the Sunderland player looks to dink it over him… it’s just wide and it probably should have been a goal.
32 mins: Brady will be absolutely chuffed. So far the Port Vale gameplan has worked to perfection: keep it tight early on, threaten via set pieces and use the pitch to their advantage.
Sunderland have been meek and mild, not their usual selves at all.
30 mins: A bit of hubris from Port Vale – Brown goes sliding into Ballard and rightly earns a booking. That was a poor tackle, not red card worthy, but reckless.
Southampton have won 1-0 at Fulham. Could we have two non-Premier League sides in the FA Cup last eight?
29 mins: To think all that Port Vale pressure stemmed from O’Nien’s strange decision to whack it back towards his own goal from near the halfway line.
“Glad all over” rings around Vale Park to celebrate another Ben Waine goal in the FA Cup. It came from a corner that Sunderland failed to clear. Dajaune Brown tried something acrobatic but Waine read the loose ball well to direct a brilliant header into the corner.
GOAL! Port Vale 1-0 Sunderland (Waine, 28)
And Vale have made Sunderland pay! Ben Waine again!
That bizarre moment has jolted Port Vale and their fans into life.
It would have been utterly crazy had it not been for Ellborg’s quick thinking.
25 mins: Luke O’Nien has nearly scored the own goal of the season, no, the century! He turned back from left-back and hit a long ball towards his own keeper… honestly, it’s going in and Ellborg is forced to head it away for a corner.
24 mins: Brady is absolutely incensed when a throw-in is given Sunderland’s way rather than in favour of his team. The Australian seemed so mild mannered in his press conference on Friday. It just shows what the heat of FA Cup battle can do to a man… to be fair I think he was right, Rhys Walters’ pass seemed to deflect off a blue Sunderland shirt.
22 mins: Brady would have wanted his team to come through the opening 20 minutes unscathed and Port Vale have done so without too much alarm, that one Mayenda chance aside. In open play Sunderland have been kept at arms length.
The next stage for Vale will be pushing towards half-time and keeping it goalless, while offering some kind of threat up front themselves. The hosts have had just one shot so far.
20 mins: This is an attritional watch at the moment.
17 mins: Sunderland are yet to fully get going. They seem unable to decide whether to play their usual passing football or bypass the pitch and go long.
16 mins: Superb play from Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel at right wing-back, just battering his way past O’Nien by sheer force of will. Jon Brady has got some fight into his players, judging from these opening exchanges.
14 mins: “Come on Vale” is the call from the stands as they sense their team are being pushed back a touch.
Archer, Brown and Waine are the hosts’ front three but they’ve seen precious little of the ball so far.
12 mins: Joe Gauci takes under pressure as the corner is swung in left-footed from the right. A settler for the Vale keeper.
11 mins: Angulo muscles his way past a couple of Port Vale players before turning on the after-burners, then feeding Mayenda. It’s good play from the Sunderland winger, eventually winning his team a corner.
10 mins: O’Nien is getting forward from left-back as Sunderland try to take control. The ball is still spending a lot of time in the air.
8 mins: Sunderland may now have got the memo. They’ve launched a couple of long balls down the channels in the past few minutes. There’s some proper scrapping going on for the second balls.
VAR are happy that Kyle John didn’t handle it, so on we go.
There’s no shortage of action in either box so far!
5 mins: Wow, now Sunderland go close from a corner! It looked for all the world like Mayenda was about to head home, but it struck a Port Vale player and then the woodwork.
VAR are checking for a possible handball here.
4 mins: Sunderland are already having a few issues playing it around their back line. Melker Ellborg takes a dodgy touch or two. It might not be the best tactic today, lads.
2 mins: Goodness me, that’s a half chance for Vale from the corner, as Connor Hall flicks a half-volley towards goal. There’s no pace on it so Ellborg collects easily in the end.
1 min: Eesh, yeah, I can now see why this pitch has been so problematic. There are huge muddy brown areas all over the place. Jon Brady said it had gone “backwards” despite some repair work being done in the summer. But the funny is it may suit Vale today …
Archer wins an early corner for the home side.
KICK OFF
Let’s gooooooo.
The players are out onto the much-talked about Vale Park pitch and we’re ready to rock. A Robbie Williams song is the walk-on music, though it’s understood the Take That star isn’t in the crowd today.
Vale fans will be happy to hear that Northampton, second bottom in League One (although still eight points above the Valiants), are losing 1-0 at AFC Wimbledon right now. The Cobblers are also Jon Brady’s former team.
Escaping relegation this season will arguably be a tougher task for Vale than taking down Sunderland today.
Vale Park is filling up nicely before kick off. I was told on Friday that 10,000 tickets had been sold and an attendance upwards of 12,000 was expected in a ground that holds around 16,000 but has only been full once this season – for the visit of Arsenal in September’s Carabao Cup tie.
Our other live football offering this Sunday lunchtime is a tasty one. Alex Reid is your man for updates from the Old Firm derby, which serves as a Scottish Premiership title eliminator.
Andre Gray scored his only Premier League hat-trick against Sunderland for Burnley in 2016. (He’s still got the match ball on display in his house).
And the Port Vale striker has imparted some words of wisdom to his less experienced teammates re playing against top flight opponents:
It’s a completely different level. You think you’re strong, you think you’re fast, you think you’re smart… until we come across these teams and you realise they’re stronger, they’re faster and they’re smarter.
But the good thing is, and the reason we love the game, is giant-killings, moments like this. That’s why FA Cup games are different. They’re going to come here and they’re not going to enjoy playing against a League One team. It’s possible, it’s always possible.
I had the pleasure of visiting Vale Park on Friday to chat to Jon Brady and Andre Gray about today’s game. One of Brady’s most cherished footballing memories is scoring in the FA Cup at Sheffield United for Rushden and Diamonds in 1999, while Gray is a former finalist of the competition with Watford. (Just don’t mention the score of that 2019 final).
Please enjoy my preview piece, and apologies for the shameless self-plug.
Jon Brady has tended to set Port Vale up in a 3-4-3 since he took charge in early January, so I think that’s what we’ll see today. He’s got some experienced forward players on the bench in the shape of former Norwich winger Onel Hernández and ex Burnley and Watford striker Andre Gray, both who are new at the club.
Sunderland have gone fairly strong, despite their injury problems, in their usual 4-2-3-1. Granit Xhaka is only on the bench but the lineup is only two players different from the one that won at Leeds in midweek, with Noah Sadiki and Trai Hume dropping out.
Team news
Port Vale: Gauci; John, Humphreys, C.Hall; Lawrence-Gabriel, Walters, Ojo, Gordon; Waine, Archer, Brown.
Subs: Amos, Headley, Campbell, Ward, G.Hall, Magloire, Gray, Hernández.
Sunderland: Ellborg; O’Nien, Ballard, Alderete, Geetruida; Rigg, Le Fée, Talbi; Diarra, Angulo; Mayenda.
Subs: Moore, Isidor, Abdullahi, Aleksic, Xhaka, J.Jones, Whittaker, H.Jones, Geragusyan.
Preamble
There have been no shocks in the FA Cup fifth round yet, so the baton falls to Port Vale – who only booked their spot in this round on Tuesday with an extra-time win over Bristol City – who host Sunderland. Vale haven’t reached this stage since 1996, after they shocked holders Everton at Vale Park. Given they’re rooted to the foot of League One and the Black Cats are flying high in the Premier League, the chances of an upset seem low. But it’s the cup. You never know for sure. This may not be the most glamorous of ties but isn’t that where the real magic of the FA Cup lies?
A healthy crowd is expected in Burslem for this one, with Sunderland looking to join the big boys of Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City in a star-studded quarter-final lineup. Team news will follow in the next post and kick off is 1.30pm (GMT).
Stay tuned for all the buildup and minute-by-minute updates from the game itself. On a problematic Vale Park pitch and with the hosts having nothing to lose, I repeat that this really could be a tasty one. Let’s find out together.
#Port #Vale #Sunderland #Cup #live #Cup
