Stoke City loanee Nathan Lowe scored against his parent club’s rivals, Port Vale, to help take Stockport County to the pinnacle of the League One table.
Lowe, who has now scored six goals for the Hatters, opened the scoring 13 minutes into the game when he met a dream delivery by Tyler Onyango with his head before hitting the post in the first minute of the second half.
Momentum increased Stockport’s success massively, but plummeted Vale’s at the same time as Kyle Wootton doubled the lead less than six minutes before Jack Diamond put the final nail in the coffin on 29 minutes.
The forward, who played a big part in Wootton’s goal, bent a close-range finish around an onrushing Joe Gauci to sink Darren Moore’s side to their second defeat in as many games.
Story of the Match
As the rain fell heavily at Vale Park on Monday night, the 2,200 Stockport fans had their own little party, which started earlier than anyone really expected. By minute 29 on the big screen, Darren Moore found his side rain-soaked, dejected and down by three goals.
The most frustrating of them all for the home fans was the first, when Lowe scored against his parent club’s rivals to submit the first of many telling goals that would wash away the momentum that Vale had built up heading into this clash.
Oliver Norwood received the ball from Odin Bailey only 13 minutes in before transitioning possession out to the right flank, where Onyango faced up to Marvin Johnson as he dribbled the ball into the box subtly.
From there, the threat from Stockport was benign but progressive and just seconds later, Vale were dealt their first blow when, from a stabbed and precise cross by Oyango, Lowe leapt higher than Cameron Humphreys to score his sixth goal of the season, past Gauci and into the bottom right corner of the net.
"He's got so much talent this boy" 🤩
Nathan Lowe heads Stockport in front against Port Vale to silence the boos from the home crowd ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/vvn3DmpxpA
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) October 27, 2025
This defeat tested the grit of the Vale fans who had to endure not just a heavy defeat, but freezing temperatures on a truly humbling night — Wootton made the home fans’ start to the week even worse when he scored Stockport’s second of the night 10 minutes later.
Wootton’s finish was perhaps so good that Diamond’s build-up could be overlooked, but it shouldn’t. An excellent piece of individual football is the only way to describe the way Diamond received the ball with his back to goal before dribbling past two compact Vale players.
He even shaped up his own shot on the edge of the area, but a strong block by Jesse Debrah resulted in a fortunate bounce, granting Wootton the chance to hit from 20 yards, which he did by wrapping his foot around the ball and slotting his seventh goal of the season into the far right corner.
Stockport have pulled off victories against Rotherham United, Huddersfield Town, Blackpool and Exeter City this season, but have won by small margins. In fact, they haven’t scored more than twice in any of those contests.
But that run came to an end when Diamond shrugged Debrah off the ball after an awkward long ball was bouncing back to the Vale goal — the Stockport forward found possession and scored to assert victory and a top-spot in the third tier for Dave Challinor’s side.
Jack Diamond scores Stockport's third of the night (Kate McShane/Getty Images)
As much as this win has motivated Stockport, the same outcome for Vale would have seen them escape the relegation zone, but wastefulness in front of goal has impaired Moore’s side all season.
From the 24 teams in League One, the Valiants are third for shots taken, but 22nd for shots that have resulted in goals, having scored just 11 all season; that profligacy was on show here, too, when Croasdale in particular had many chances to break the deadlock for his team.
After six minutes, the midfielder had a free header on the edge of the six-yard box but somehow steered it off target, before he miscued the end product of an excellent cross from Johnson on the left, which rolled wide of the goal.
The hosts’ most promising chance of the match was Ruari Paton’s free-kick from 32 yards, where he hit the crossbar with a looping effort that had Stockport goalkeeper Hinchcliffe well-beaten.
Still, by the 87th minute, Vale hadn't had a shot on goal for 36 minutes, which just about summarised this poor performance from a side who were seen as close competitors for Stockport.