Tears in tunnel after Potteries boy Earle fired Vale back into the second tier after 32 years
In the latest of our series looking back at memorable matches involving our local clubs, PHIL SHERWIN recalls the day Port Vale returned to the second tier of English football thanks to a Robbie Earle goal in a 1-0 play-off final second leg win against Br
VALE had an excellent season in 1988-89, but were pipped to automatic promotion by Sheffield United on goal difference and so had to endure the play-offs. In the semi-final, they beat Preston North End 4-2 on aggregate, largely thanks to a hat-trick by leading scorer Darren Beckford, and then had to face Bristol Rovers in the two-legged final.
A 1-1 draw at Twerton Park, thanks to an equaliser from Robbie Earle, made Vale favourites for the second leg.
The game took place on June 3, the only time the club have ever played a competitive game in that month, and a crowd of more than 17,000 assembled to see if they could complete the job.
They didn’t disappoint, as local boy Earle converted a tried and trusted corner routine in the 52nd minute.
That proved to be the only goal of the game and the celebrations began.
Season ticket holder Steve Askey, a Vale supporter from Newcastle since the mid-1960s, recalls: “It was the culmination of an excellent season. Having witnessed the club bottom of the old Fourth Division just eight years before, I never thought I would see us make it into Division Two.
“I was confident because we were playing so well, and had finished 10 points in front of Rovers. Also, we had played them twice in the last month of the season, drawing away and beating them at home.
“The play-offs were a new innovation in those days, and there was still the thought that we should have gone up anyway by finishing third, but I was sure that we would come through.
“As usual before home games I went to the Park Inn with a group of friends (still do actually) to talk over the forthcoming game and views rated from the downright nervous and pessimistic to outright confidence.
“We started well, but we couldn’t get the breakthrough before halftime. As long as we didn’t let one in we would be all right, though, because the away goal we scored in the first leg would have been good enough.
“The magic moment arrived early in the second half, from what was a good source for Vale goals at that time – a Simon Mills corner.
“He took it, Beckford flicked on and Earle came powering in to head it home. The ground exploded and, from then on, we knew we were going up.
“It was fitting that Robbie, the only local lad in the team, should score the winner, and I remember the picture of him sitting in the tunnel afterwards still in his kit, in floods of tears.
“Straight from the game it was time to celebrate in the Burslem hostelries and a superb night was had by all. A truly great occasion for all Vale fans.”
Earle, who scored the all-important goal, says: “Going into that game we were relaxed and confident about winning. We had finished third and thought we were good enough to go up anyway, but we had to prove it in the play-offs.
“We practised corners for hours, and it certainly paid off. Millsy could put in a brilliant delivery and as soon as it went towards Becky I knew it was coming my way.
“At the end of the game it was a huge feeling of relief that we had proved a point – we were good enough for promotion. We knew as a group of players we could play at a higher level and this gave us a chance to do so. I had a great time at the Vale, and this was the greatest of them all.”
Robbie originally joined the Vale in 1982 and went on to make 357 senior appearances for the club, scoring 90 goals – the fifth highest in the club’s history. He was sold to Wimbledon in 1991 for £775,000 and went on to earn international honours for Jamaica, scoring in the 1998 World Cup Finals.
Nowadays, he works in the media as a football pundit.
Simon Mills, the club’s right-back that day, remembers it fondly. He says: “The pressure was on us, being as we finished so far ahead of Rovers, and I’d had loads of stick living in Sheffield, as it was United who pipped us to the automatic spot.
“There was talk of the game being put back a day, so their goalkeeper Nigel Martyn, could play for the England Under-21s, but I didn’t want that as I was going on honeymoon, having got married the week before. In the end, he pulled out of the international squad.
“Not for the first time, it was the MBE that got us the win, the Mills, Beckford, Earle corner routine, that must have got us 10-15 goals altogether. It was undoubtedly the best day of my footballing life, and I had a great time at the Vale. I had a superb rapport with the fans, and it is still the first score I look for on a Saturday.”
Simon originally joined the Vale from York City in December 1987 for a fee of £35,000, and went on to make 218 senior appearances for the club scoring eight goals. He retired from professional football through injury in 1994. Nowadays he works for a brewery in Sheffield as a drayman.
“With the money in football today, I don’t suppose players retiring now will need to be working 15 years later like me. Good luck to them though.”
Port Vale: Mark Grew, Simon Mills, Darren Hughes, Ray Walker, Gary West, Dean Glover, John Jeffers, Robbie Earle, Ron Futcher, Darren Beckford, Andy Porter (Kevin Finney 77). Not used: Ronnie Jepson.
Bristol Rovers: Martyn, Alexander, Clark, Yates, White, Jones, Holloway, Mehew, Reece, Penrice, Purnell. Not used: Mcclean, Nixon.
Attendance: 17,353