Leek Town advanced to the quarter final of the Staffordshire Senior Cup as they cruised to a 5-0 win over a youthful Port Vale side. Last season’s beaten finalists showed their opponents no mercy with a first half goal from Tom Scully followed by second half braces from substitutes Hayden Campbell and Alex Hurst.

Leek manager Josh Brehaut stuck to his promise to make full use of his squad with five changes to the side that had beaten Lancaster at the weekend with Nathan Okome, George Milner, Tyreece Onyeka and Brendan Daniels joining Scully in the starting eleven. The number of changes may have been a contributing factor as Leek struggled to get into any rhythm of play in the early stages of the first half and it was Valiants who made the brighter start.

The impressive Dimono Edwards featured prominently and caused a couple of anxious moments for Julius Ndene as the Blues centre half conceded a corner whilst under pressure from Edwards before earning a 10th minute booking for bringing down his opponent who had nicked the ball off the feet of the Leek defender and threatened a run on goal.

The Vale youngsters continued to look neat and tidy in possession but without any real cutting edge up front. The Leek back line was being well marshalled by the central partnership of Okome and Ndene, and on the one occasion Rhys Walters did manage to thread a pass into Logan Cousins the flag immediately was raised for offside. Blues goalkeeper Dino Visser was still quickly out to produce a good save with his legs which would turn out to be the only save he would have to make in the remainder of the half as the hosts finally warmed to the game and got into their stride.

The crossbar denied Leek the opening goal after 22mins when a corner was cleared to Milner on the edge of the area and he struck a sweet volley that flew over everyone but saw it hit the woodwork. Onyeka was looking threatening down the right and the link up play between himself, Daniels and Louis Potts created a number of chances in the half.

The first came on 24mins Potts fed the ball to Onyeka who powered down the right and could have delivered it early into the box but chose to cut back and play the ball to Scully. He produced a lovely whipped cross that went across the 6yd box just evading both Daniels and Potts who were whiskers away from connecting.

Ollie Shenton then had a couple of opportunities, one of them golden, to open the scoring but failed to do so. On 27mins Leek won a free kick on the left hand side of the area and as everyone ran towards goal to meet the delivery it was actually played back to Shenton in space on the edge of the area but he was unable to keep his effort down and it flew over the bar.

The better chance came just moments later when Potts, using his physicality, won the flick on and Daniels was first to it showing a burst of pace. The forward then showed a touch of class with a delightful and clever back heel into Shenton inside the box but with just goalkeeper Arron Davies to beat he side footed it wide with his favoured left foot.

The goal that the Blues had threatened eventually arrived on 35mins but was from a set piece rather than open play. Daniels was brought down on the edge of the area after doing well to bring down a awkwardly looking long ball played forward and Scully was able to hit a low right footed effort past the wall, and inside the far post beyond the reach of Davies, who will have been disappointed not to have made the save.

Leek continued to control the game up to the half time break and created a further chance after 42mins when Potts won yet another flick on that Daniels picked up and immediately fed to Onyeka on the right. He cut inside his man and fired a powerful left footed drive that rippled the side netting just the wrong side of the post with Davies beaten.

LEEK TOWN 1 - PORT VALE 0 HT

Leek nearly doubled their lead within 30 seconds of the restart as Port Vale kicked off and immediately lost possession allowing Potts to pick up the ball take on the last defender and try to curl his effort inside the far post but his effort took a slight deflection to go for a corner. This was cleared to Milner who could not repeat his effort from the first half and the ball flew high and wide.

Aside from this, the Valiants again started the half reasonably well and had a good five to six minute spell when they pinned the Blues back into their own half with some neat possession. A couple of half chances arrived with a dangerous cross into the area failing to find a yellow shirt and then a driven effort from outside the area comfortably saved by Visser.

Leek weathered the brief storm, began to regain control, and came close to their second goal on 65mins when Potts battled for and won a long ball played forward. His left footed effort looked destined for the corner of the net but Davies spread himself and just managed to stick out a foot to divert the balls path inches past the post.

The corner was taken short and when the cross was eventually delivered Potts had a free header but mistimed it and the ball looked to the heading out until Okome did well to keep it in play. This resulted in a passage of play and further crosses played into the Vale penalty area where, eventually, one fell to Campbell who didn’t get a clean connection but his volleyed effort into the ground still found its way through a body of players and into the far corner to make it 2-0.

Port Vale had a chance to pull a goal back a minute later on 66mins following a good run forward and across the field of play from Edwards. He eventually slid a pass through to Jack Shorrock but Visser was alert to the danger and was quickly out to block the effort.

Play swung to the other end once more and Potts had another effort deflected for yet another corner before the Blues made sure of the result with their third after 75mins when Shenton produced a lovely measured pass into the path of Campbell who lifted the ball over Davies and into the net for his second of the game.

To their credit Vale didn’t give up and Visser had to produce the save of the game to earn a clean sheet tipping over a long range effort from Cousins heading for the top corner before Leek scored a couple of late goals to seal a comfortable victory with both of them coming from Hurst, one from each foot

The first came after 85mins when Scully won a challenge in midfield and Campbell picked up the loose ball. He immediately spotted the run of Hurst and found him with a weighted pass and the substitute coolly finished low left footed beyond Davies.

Then in the final move of the game on 90mins Campbell again was the creator finding Hurst with another through ball and Hurst this time slotted home right footed to make it five, and his seventh goal in seven games.

LEEK TOWN 5 - PORT VALE 0 FT

REPORT BY WINNERS LAD

Match gallery courtesy of Jim Booth HERE

No game this weekend with our next outing away at Stockton Town on Wednesday 29 January 2025 - we have some limited availability on coach, you can book your tickets HERE

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