Vale down Town
Goals in each half from John McCombe and Sean Rigg kept Port Vale on track for the play-offs with a 2-1 win at Northampton.
McCombe gave Vale a fourth-minute lead, heading home at the far post from Doug Loft's cross after the Cobblers failed to clear Paul Marshall's corner. That came after Matt Duke had superbly denied Louis Dodds with a point blank reflex save.
Duke kept Cobblers in the game with another excellent save to again thwart Dodds, this time keeping out his near-post header from Marshall's corner.
The Cobblers finally got into the contest after the restart and Brett Williams saw his header from John Johnson's cross tipped over by Stuart Tomlinson. But Vale doubled their advantage in the 58th minute when Dodds put Rigg away and he beat the offside trap before rounding Duke to put the ball into an empty net.
Adebayo Akinfenwa reduced the arrears in the 81st minute, turning to beat Tomlinson from close range after good work by substitute Jake Robinson.
Luke Guttridge then fired just over but despite the late pressure, Vale held on to take all three points and extend their unbeaten run to five games.
Source: PA
Source: PA