Vale are Streetes ahead of the Boro

REMI STREETE’S firsthalf header was enough to send Port Vale through to the Emirates FA Cup second round at the expense of their League Two opponents.

The centre-half powerfully headed home Jerome Thomas’s left-wing cross after he had stayed up from a corner taken moments beforehand.

Stevenage will feel they did more than enough to go through in a game with very few clear cut chances. Substitute Matt Godden raced through one-vone in the dying minutes only to hit the post and smash the rebound well over the crossbar.

Just before Godden’s golden opportunity, Jack King found himself on the end of a long free-kick into the box. He slipped as he originally tried to finish but forced a save from Vale keeper Jak Alnwick whilst on the deck.

“The first 45 minutes was good, in the second 45 minutes there was bits and bobs that were ok,” said Port Vale assistant manager Andy Smith.

“We rode our luck a bit, Jak (Alnwick) made some good saves.

“It’s the FA Cup it happens every year in this competition.

“It’s different, you have to stand up and be counted and put the grind in.

“We knew they’d be difficult to play against, we stuck it out and we’re in the next round. That’s football, that’s why it’s the best game in the world, because you never know what’s going to happen, concentration levels have to be there right until the 90th minute.”

Stevenage face Southend United at home in the Checkatrade Trophy on Tuesday and manager Darren Sarll says the club wouldn’t suffer off the pitch following their early exit from the FA Cup.

“Our chairman is a very clever man, he wouldn’t bank on fictitious money,” said Sarll.

“He cuts his cloth accordingly and that is why we are such a good football club.

“I said to the players the one positive is that we are building something. You can see that, it’s the first time I’ve seen them be that relentless to try and score a goal.

“Conversion, it’s just about converting it, that’s why the strikers get paid the most. I think you’re a silly club if you’re playing on the lottery of the FA Cup.

“Glenn Roeder (managerial advisor) said to me on the coach on the way up that once your name is in the hat it’s in the hat. Our name certainly isn’t going to be in the hat with the chances that we created and with the lack of conversion.”