Port Vale vs Sheffield United. Sky Bet League One.
Vale ParkAttendance8,524.
Friday 26 December 2014 18:24, UK
Dany N'Guessan made no mistake with a late penalty to secure Port Vale a 2-1 victory over 10-man Sheffield United.
The opening stages were hard-fought and even before Vale took the lead with the first chance of the game in the 16th minute. Mark Marshall's corner was played to the edge of the penalty area where N'Guessan drilled in a low shot, which was cleverly flicked into the net by Ben Williamson. Williamson, in the centre of goal six yards out, used his right foot to neatly deflect the ball low inside Blades goalkeeper Mark Howard's left-hand post. The visitors almost levelled four minutes later when Vale goalkeeper Chris Neal pulled off a brilliant reaction save after Stefan Scougall's shot had taken a big deflection off Richard Duffy. United were really up against it a minute before the interval when Basham was shown a straight red card for a late and reckless challenge on Michael Brown. But the visitors' 10 men drew level in the 54th minute when Jamie Murphy beat both Adam Yates and Frederic Veseli on the left and played a pass for Jamal Campbell-Ryce to place a right-footed shot inside Neal's post from 10 yards. It was nip and tuck after that until Bob Harris scythed down Marshall to concede a 79th-minute penalty, which N'Guessan blasted high inside Howard's right-hand post.
