Vale moved to the top of Conference B following their victory over the club that headed the table before kick off in addition to avenging a 24-21 defeat in January over at Bramhall.

The visitors arrived with only twelve players due to late call ups for their first team forcing the coach to swap his track suit for a jersey and long serving Vale player, the legendary John Whitty, being drafted into the Stockport front row.

Despite having a one man advantage the Vale had to work hard to extended their unbeaten run to four games. Although the Vale pack constructed a solid platform Stockport had a lighteningly quick back division, plus a dangerous wing forward who created mayhem in all areas.

Changes were forced on the Vale but with a strong wind at their backs they went into the lead in the eleventh minute when Tom Crookall hurtled powerfully through for a smartly taken try, converted by Neil Walker.

Stockport had given early warnings that their back division were a potent threat but gradually the Vale turned the screw and in the twenty second minute went further ahead when Oli Dobson whipped out a pass to centre Jamie Antcliffe who scored an unconverted try wide out.

Vale might have extended their lead but they had a try chalked off after Crookall had charged down a kick and appeared to have won the race for the touchdown but not to the referee's satisfaction.

The final score of the half followed a swift break down the home side's right flank, Dobson grounding the ball for an unconverted try in the closing minute, but there was a worry that the Vale should have built up a bigger margin and taken more advantage of the conditions.

Their seventeen point lead was quickly chewed into as Stockport posted a converted try after two minutes. In the fifty fifth minute their predatory flanker pinched the ball to race away for another converted try.

It became imperative that the Vale needed to curb the visitor's endeavours and growing confidence, so a successful Walker penalty was the perfect tonic to settle the nerves. But the feeling of serenity did not last long because a second try was scored by Stockport's dynamic wing forward which was converted in the sixty seventh minute to push them into the lead.

At this stage the Vale were definitely rocking but as the game moved into the final ten minutes they started to play on the front foot with more purpose. Dobson set off on a scampering run, Wayne Blythe tip-toed his way down the wing for an unconverted try.

Vale's pack started to dominate in the sets and loose, they went subtly through the phases in the build up to hooker Simon Harrison's try which was converted by Walker in the seventy fourth minute.

There are still some areas to work on ahead of the cup game against Chester on Saturday but team manager Tony Gilmour will be hoping for the luxury from selecting from a large pool. Against Stockport, young prop Aiden Yates continues to impress, a talented player with a huge potential, and on the other side of the scrum Ryan Needham was rock solid. As always Danny Lin played to the highest of standards in the back row. The aggressive Tom Crookall proved difficult to shackle, while Scott Manning continues to look comfortable and confident in the number fifteen jersey.

Another test now awaits the high fliers on Saturday when they take on Conference A side, Chester 2, at The Lane, in a semi final of the prestigious Brooke Edgley Specialist Technical Services Cup, kick of 3.00 pm.