Ephron Mason-Clark struck a quickfire second-half double to hand Darren Ferguson a winning start to his fourth spell as Peterborough manager at Port Vale.
The victory lifts Posh two places to seventh in League One, while Port Vale remain 11th.
Mason-Clark fired narrowly wide when presented with the clearest opening of the first half.
But the 23-year-old found his range after 56 minutes as Jonson Clarke-Harris headed Joe Ward’s deep delivery back across goal for Mason-Clark to stoop and convert into an empty net.
Clarke-Harris was fractionally off target with a header on the hour, but Mason-Clark bundled home from Ward’s square ball soon after and only a full-length stop from Jack Stevens prevented Kwame Poku from adding a third for the visitors.
Will Norris was rarely tested after an eighth-minute save at the feet of Mal Benning and the Peterborough goalkeeper, on loan from Burnley, marked his first senior appearance for 20 months with a clean sheet.
Match report supplied by PA Media.
Line-ups
Port Vale
Formation 3-4-1-2
- 25Stevens
- 2Cass
- 6Smith
- 3JonesSubstituted forForresterat 81′minutes
- 7WorrallSubstituted forRobinsonat 65′minutes
- 8Garrity
- 23PettSubstituted forOjoat 81′minutes
- 11Benning
- 26ButterworthSubstituted forPoliticat 65′minutes
- 21Odubeko
- 19Massey
Substitutes
- 1Stone
- 14Ojo
- 15Forrester
- 17Holden
- 24Agyakwa
- 27Robinson
- 33Politic
Peterborough
Formation 4-2-3-1
- 1Norris
- 12Thompson
- 6Kent
- 4Edwards
- 3Butler
- 8Taylor
- 22Kyprianou
- 23Ward
- 11PokuBooked at 77minsSubstituted forBurrowsat 81′minutes
- 10Mason-Clark
- 9Clarke-Harris
Substitutes
- 5Knight
- 14Marriott
- 15Ogbeta
- 16Burrows
- 17Jones
- 24Thompson
- 28Blackmore
- Referee:
- Peter Wright
- Attendance:
- 5,109
Live Text
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Match ends, Port Vale 0, Peterborough United 2.
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Second Half ends, Port Vale 0, Peterborough United 2.
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Attempt saved. Funso Ojo (Port Vale) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top left corner. Assisted by Lewis Cass.
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Attempt missed. Harrison Burrows (Peterborough United) left footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the left. Assisted by Hector Kyprianou.
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Ademipo Odubeko (Port Vale) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
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Foul by Frankie Kent (Peterborough United).
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Nathan Smith (Port Vale) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Foul by Jonson Clarke-Harris (Peterborough United).
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Offside, Peterborough United. Will Norris tries a through ball, but Joe Ward is caught offside.
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Attempt missed. Dan Butler (Peterborough United) left footed shot from outside the box is too high following a corner.
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Corner, Peterborough United. Conceded by William Forrester.
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Foul by Dennis Politic (Port Vale).
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Hector Kyprianou (Peterborough United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
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Attempt blocked. Jonson Clarke-Harris (Peterborough United) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
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Substitution, Port Vale. William Forrester replaces Dan Jones.
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Substitution, Port Vale. Funso Ojo replaces Tom Pett.
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Substitution, Peterborough United. Harrison Burrows replaces Kwame Poku.
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Kwame Poku (Peterborough United) is shown the yellow card.
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Corner, Port Vale. Conceded by Nathan Thompson.
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Delay over. They are ready to continue.
