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Town started their Carling Cup campaign in devastating fashion by knocking Port Vale out in the second round with a 4-2 win at Vale Park.

In the end Town managed to win the game fairly easily but it didn't look like it would end up that way early on in the game when Port Vale's very own Gary Roberts gave the home side the lead midway through the first half.

It didn't take long for the Terriers to respond, however, with Lee Novak scoring the equaliser in the 29th minute. The goal came about when Town's new signing, Donal McDermott, took the ball and drifted infield and played a lovely though ball over the top of the Port Vale defence straight to Scott Arfield who then quickly dinked the ball across to Novak who tapped the ball in to the net.

Nine minutes later and Town took the lead with Novak scoring his second goal of the game. Gary Roberts started the move by taking on a player and knocking it past the Vale goalkeeper only for his effort to be kicked off the line. Novak, however, made no mistake with the Vale clearance and blasted home from near the penalty spot.

At half time Town went in with a 2-1 lead and Lee Clark must have been quite pleased with what he saw, though maybe slightly disappointed with conceding the first goal.

After the break Town started extremely well and nearly scored again on a few occasions with Roberts and McCombe both coming close. Town's third goal would arrive in the 58th minute.

Town's impressive youngster, Jack Hunt, found the third with a spectacular effort. The right back found plenty of space in the Vale half and made the most of it. Hunt drifted deep in to the Vale half and unleashed a 25-yard thunderbolt into the top corner of the net leaving the Port Vale goalkeeper stranded! The ground erupted with even the home fans joining in on the applause.

Town continued to impress and got their 4th goal to make it 4-1 in the 67th minute. Gobern was fouled 25 yards from goal and Roberts stepped up and converted the free-kick with a splendid goal to take his goals tally to 2 for the season.

With the game more-or-less wrapped up, Town made two substitutions in the 76th minutes. The first was Ward replacing the excellent McDermott then followed by Town's two-goal scorer Novak being replaced by Lee.

In the 83rd minute - just as Clark will have been looking at all the positives and maybe one or two negatives from the game - Town's new signing, Gobern, brought down Port Vale's Griffith in the penalty area with a clumsy challenge. Vale winger Loft made no mistake with the penalty and smashed it straight past the helpless Bennett to make it 4-2 on the night.

Port Vale had another decent chance late-on but Town held on to their two-goal cushion and can now look forward to Saturday's away trip to Rochdale with much optimism.

Town's team:

Bennett; Naysmith (Captain), Cooper, McCombe, Jack Hunt; Gobern, Miller, Arfield; Roberts, Lee Novak (Lee 79), McDermott (Ward 76)

Unused Subs: Colgan, Woods, P.Clarke, Kay, Cadamarteri

Attendance: 3,014

Town: 296