The euphoria that followed on from Vale's victory at Sedgley Park the previous week quickly evaporated ay Lightfoot Green when the visitors inability to hold onto the ball was punished on a regular basis by a speedy, alert Preston Grasshoppers back division that knew how to react when they were looking at a proverbial gift horse.

It was a pity that the Vale should make so many elementary mistakes because they showed they were fully capable of producing passages of positive rugby and even when faced with a mighty task they never gave up. The scrum did not lack solidarity, and as a unit the forwards grafted hard. Lock Josh Mackintosh proved a real handful, Danny Lin was his usual committed, efficient self even when he was moved into the centre when injuries forced the Vale to re-jig their back division when both Alex Hill and Wayne Blythe suffered injuries.

Joe Clarkson made a massive contribution when he came off the bench while Charlie Lomas had a splendid all round game in the number nine shirt and Sean Coulshed was rock solid in the latter stages when he was moved to full back because of the changes.

The first half started disastrously for the Vale as they conceded 19 points in 10 minutes from a trilogy of blunders. A measure of stability returned to their game, heads were lifted, valuable ground was gained and a cohesion began to emerge. But just when it appeared that they had locked Mr Dropsy in the cupboard out he popped, and Hoppers were presented with another converted try with eight minutes of the half left.

Hoppers were quickly onto the front foot, plundering further scores and by the sixty third minute were leading 45-0. Vale eventually filled the blank on their side of the scoreboard when Alex Baines scored as try after Jake Harrison had carved out the initial opening; Neil Walker the extras. Seven points was some consolation at the end of what had been a disappointing foray down the M6, but the Vale will be hoping to recapture their potential and feel good factor when they host third from bottom Broughton Park on Saturday.