Dan Wheeler, West Midlands - BBC Sport; Phil Bowers - BBC Radio StokeWed, December 3, 2025 at 1:06 PM UTC·2 min readPort Vale boss Darren Moore says their 5-0 win over Barnsley in the Vertu Trophy shows how "together" the squad are despite their struggles in League One this season.
Vale put their poor league form behind them as they swept aside the Tykes with two goals from Ruari Paton inside the first 10 minutes setting them on their way at Vale Park.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDajaune Brown, Ben Waine and Jesse Debrah then added a goal each in the final 20 minutes to seal a commanding victory.
"I said go out and enjoy the night and they did that," Moore told BBC Radio Stoke.
"The pleasing thing was the goal threat, the creativity, getting bodies forward and putting them under pressure.
"We could use the ball better in certain areas but I can't critique the side - it was a good all-round performance."
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Vale's win - their ninth in 26 matches in all competitions - took them into the last 16 of the EFL Trophy ahead of Saturday second round FA Cup tie at home to Bristol Rovers.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Valiants' 5-1 win against non-league Malden & Tiptree in the first round of the FA Cup is their only other win since beating Accrington in their final Vertu Trophy group game on 7 October.
They have not won in the league since 27 September and are bottom of the table, three points from safety.
Moore, who made nine changes to his side on Tuesday, has no doubt his squad are united in their bid to turn things around and said their performance against Barnsley proved that.
"Hopefully when I said we were still together as a group, that showed. Credit to the boys," he said.
"It was about rotating the team and trusting the boys to go and perform.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"The only difference from other performances [this season] is we scored.
"The cup competitions have been good for us and a good recipe away from the league but we'll discuss that [showing their cup confidence in League One] when we get back to it."
