The Sky Bet League One match between Stevenage and Cambridge was called off on Friday night due to a power cut.

Some fans were already in the Lamex Stadium when the lights went out prior to the 7.45pm kick off, with Cambridge’s social media accounts reporting more were stranded outside due to the power outage affecting the turnstiles.

At 8.19pm Stevenage announced the match had been “cancelled” on X, formerly known as Twitter, later confirming the cause was a power cut via a statement from UK Power Networks.

A club statement read: “Tonight’s fixture vs Cambridge United at the Lamex Stadium has been cancelled due to a local area power cut.

“Tickets purchased for this evening’s fixture will remain valid for the rearranged fixture. Refunds will also be made possible with details announced in due course.”

Derby manager Paul Warne watched his players reward him for giving them Christmas Day off as they picked up a 1-0 victory at League One strugglers Wigan.

Curtis Nelson headed home the only goal in the 19th minute, but only the brilliance of Wigan goalkeeper Sam Tickle kept the scoreline respectable.

And Warne – whose side have now won seven of their last eight matches – was a happy man after subjecting one of his former clubs to a third defeat on the spin.

“It was the most pleasing performance of the season, because it was away from home against good opposition and probably the best we’ve played collectively,” he said.

“Even at the end I was making substitutions just to help the lads out, not for any other reason.

“Wigan have taken a couple of good scalps here, so we knew we would have to do a lot out of possession.

“It takes a real understanding of the game, and they’ve been well coached this week to understand how we wanted it to look.

“But then they changed their shape which made it more difficult.

“I just liked the energy and the drive of the team. There were tackles and heads when it was needed. There was also a bit of creativity and some really good performances.

“I gave them Christmas Day off and I wanted them to show me it was the right decision. They paid back my trust in them.”

Warne’s only gripe would have been that the game was not put to bed during the utterly one-sided first half.

“Sometimes you perform at a level then it can all go wrong, so I was anxious,” he added.

“When one down, you throw the kitchen sink and that’s what makes football.”

Wigan boss Shaun Maloney took full responsibility for the disappointing first half that paved the way for the Rams’ victory.

Due to injuries, illness and unavailability, Maloney’s starting XI featured seven academy graduates – with an average age between them of just over 21.

Maloney made a double change at the break, sending on the more experienced Callum McManaman and Jonny Smith, which led to a second half that was far more even, but the damage had been done.

“It kind of felt like two performances in one game, one in each half,” he assessed.

“But I can’t be too critical of the players in that first half, I have to take that one.

“I think I was over-reliant on too many young players in that first half.

“Those young players have been brilliant for me and this football club since I’ve been here, and they’ll definitely come again, that’s for sure.

“Derby are a really good side, good squad, very experienced, a match for anyone at this level.

“Normally when you’re bringing young players in, you’re wanting to drip them in, when the team is in good form.

“In the second half – apart from the first five minutes, when they had a couple of chances – I felt it was much better.

“It felt like we went toe to toe with Derby, and there wasn’t much between the two teams in the second half.”

Barnsley manager Neill Collins hopes his side learn from their mistakes in the second half after they held off a fight back from Port Vale to win 3-2.

Adam Phillips opened the scoring before John McAtee added a quickfire brace, including a stunning strike from 35 yards for his second, to make it 3-0 after 37 minutes.

But Vale fought back after the break, with Ethan Chislett and Jack Shorrock both finding the net to make the scoreline much more respectable.

Victory keeps the Tykes in seventh spot in the League One table, two points outside the play-offs.

However, Collins believes his team should have put the game to bed and pinpointed a good chance for Herbie Kane, which was well saved by Connor Ripley just moments before Chislett earned Vale a lifeline in the 72nd minute, as an opportunity to do that.

“In the first half, I thought we were outstanding,” he said.

“I thought the quality of our goals was excellent, I thought we looked a real threat, I thought we looked comfortable defensively.

“So everything that was probably good about the first half was negative about the second, particularly the last 20 minutes.

“I thought we started a bit slow coming out in the second half, then we had a little period where we looked like a threat again and we probably should have made it four when Herbie Kane goes through.

“Port Vale got their goal and we had to make certain changes – some we made decisions on and some were forced.

“And I thought once they got their tails up, we struggled to cope with it.

“But I can’t take anything away from a great three points. I think we tend to have games like this in the Christmas period, and hopefully we learn from it.”

Defeat for the Valiants brought their three-match unbeaten league run to an end and saw them drop one place to 16th.

Boss Andy Crosby was left to rue an extremely disappointing first-half display, but was pleased with how his side responded.

“What was happening in that first half, we looked devoid of anything,” he said.

“The second half reaction is more like I want us to be.

“We played with pride, we played with enthusiasm, we played with quality.

“I can’t mask over that first-half performance and it’s something that I have to apologise to the fans for, because it was really poor.

“There’s a number of things – if you don’t track runs into the box, if you don’t defend balls into your box, you’re going to get hurt because of the quality of the opposition.

“They’ve obviously got a number of really good attacking options. They’ve got a good team. That’s why they are where they are in the league.

“And when you’re giving that much space and freedom to play, they’re going to hurt you.”

Bolton boss Ian Evatt hailed his side’s persistence after a last-gasp 1-0 win at 10-man Lincoln.

The resolute Imps looked to have held on for a hard-fought point after Danny Mandriou was sent off in the second half.

But Eoin Toal sent Evatt and the traveling Wanderers fans into scenes of jubilation with his dramatic 89th-minute winner.

“I thought we played so good,” said Evatt. “I thought we dominated from start to finish.

“We had moments we didn’t take, but we kept the belief and kept the faith.

“It shows you the value of set plays. It was easy to throw the ball in at that stage, but against 10 men it’s harder so we utilised the space around the edge and it worked.

“I wish I could bottle up that feeling because what a feeling that was in front of the away end.

“I was really pleased with the performance because I was delighted with the way we played.

“When you have the ball for so long and it’s wave after wave, it was just relentless and eventually we got what we deserved.”

The Trotters cut the gap with the top two after Portsmouth were stunned at Bristol Rovers and Peterborough were held to a late draw.

But Evatt, whose side are two points off Posh with a game in hand, stressed: “It’s getting tight at the top.

“Everyone spoke about the strength of the league, when you look at the pace the top five, six are setting and the points they’re stacking up, it’s large quantities of points.

“For us, we’re not even halfway through the season. There’s so much football to play.

“There’s no talk of this or that. We just focus on the next game. It’s really boring to say but that’s the way it has to be.”

Lincoln slipped to a second successive defeat and are four games without a win.

On Mandriou’s second sending off of the season, boss Michael Skubala said: “It’s a really tough one to take. We had 20 minutes with 10 men, the lads were digging deep and 89th minute, it’s hard to take.

“I thought we deserved something out of the game.

“The red card is a game-changing moment, there’s no doubt about that. I can’t stand here and say it’s not a game-changing moment.

“I don’t really want to talk about Danny if I’m honest, I want to talk about the warriors who for 20 minutes looked like they were going to get something out of the game.

“I thought they were brilliant to a man and we were so unlucky not to come away with something. Getting something out of that game would have been a proud performance from those 10 men.

“He will apologise. He knows. I don’t think it’s about Danny, these situations are about the other guys.

“I was really proud of the crowd, they were amazing. When we were under the cosh you could hear them and we will need that in the next few weeks and months as we’re depleted.”

George Lloyd was described as “unplayable” by Cheltenham assistant boss Adam Murray after the striker’s brace helped the Robins move off the bottom of the League One table with a 2-0 home win over Shrewsbury.

Lloyd nodded in the hosts’ opener in the first half before sealing matters with a second goal five minutes from time.

Cheltenham have now picked up five wins from 12 games under boss Darrell Clarke and assistant Murray hailed Lloyd’s impact on his return to the starting XI.

“From what I’ve seen of Lloydy, he is one unbelievable player,” Murray said.

“I know he’s been at the club a long time and probably not got the goals that his work-rate and talent deserves.

“I know in the past, Micky Moore (former director of football, now at Shrewsbury) has worked really hard to keep him at the club and it’s
paid dividends because when he is like that, he truly is unplayable.

“I’d imagine if we cut him open, his heart would be as big as him.”

Lloyd nodded in Liam Sercombe’s free-kick from the right in the 34th minute to put the fast-improving Robins on course in front of their highest home turnout of the campaign.

And Lloyd touched in Tom Bradbury’s downward header from Sean Long’s corner to seal the points five minutes from the end.

Sercombe tested Marko Marosi with a powerful drive in the ninth minute, but chances were at a premium in a cagey first half.

A low shot from Shrews midfielder Carl Winchester was well blocked by Lewis Freestone and Winchester blasted one wide against his old club before Lloyd’s opener.

Taylor Perry fizzed a shot wide early in the second half for the visitors, before Cheltenham nearly doubled their lead in the 63rd minute.

The outstanding Lloyd set up ex-Shrews striker Rob Street, who saw his effort cleared off the line by Jordan Shipley.

Ben Williams had a free-kick touched over the bar by Marosi and another set-piece from the left wing-back crashed against the bar in the 81st minute, before Lloyd had the final say.

Shrewsbury boss Matt Taylor lost two more players to injury at the Completely-Suzuki Stadium, with Perry and Daniel Udoh both hobbling off.

“Everything that can go against us at the moment, is,” Taylor said. “We’ve got to come out swinging.

“I’ve never known a treatment room at any football club to be so full. We’re stretched at the moment.

“While we’re disappointed at the moment though, fast forward three days and we have a chance to put things right (in Friday’s game at Burton).

“It’s a tough day because we didn’t see anything from Cheltenham that we didn’t prepare for. You can’t give the opposition two goals from set-plays, though.

“The way we defended at those two set-plays and to give two free headers is nowhere good enough. We didn’t make the opposition work too hard for those two goals.

“The fans will have left here feeling very frustrated, as I will, because today is nowhere good enough by any stretch of the imagination for this football club.”

Proud Reading boss Ruben Selles saluted his team’s spirit and progress after they pocketed a precious point at promotion-chasing Peterborough.

The struggling Royals twice battled back from behind to share the spoils with the League One top-scorers, as goals from Sam Smith and Femi Azeez cancelled out efforts from Josh Knight and Ephron Mason-Clark.

Reading remain in the bottom four of League One, but Selles said: “The point is good for us, but the performance we produced and knowing we can compete in this type of game is even better.

“Peterborough are one of the best opponents in the division and getting a result here is very difficult, so I’m proud of my team.

“We had some problems as it was a new team with a lot of new characters. It took a little bit of time for us to find the connection but I think they have found it now. For me it is a pleasure to work with these players.

“The target is to be a team that is difficult to beat, that want to play together, that want to fight together and want to do great things which we showed today.

“Femi has become a very important player for us. He can make the difference with the assist and the goal, but he is also a big part of what we do defensively.”

Reading fell behind to Knight’s header six minutes before the break and were fortunate not to concede two penalties in the opening half.

Second-placed Posh then saw a Hector Kyprianou strike ruled out for offside just before substitute Smith squeezed in a 63rd-minute equaliser.

Azeez hit a post before Mason-Clark again put Reading on the ropes by restoring Posh’s lead in the 69th minute.

But the visitors refused to roll over as Azeez levelled with five minutes to go to secure just their fifth away point.

Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson said: “I’m disappointed not to win a game that I felt we deserved to win.

“We twice led in the game, we had 20 shots and 16 corners, but the one thing we couldn’t do was get ourselves into a two-goal lead.

“I think we should have had penalties and I’m told Hector was onside when he scored, but what can you do? Everyone makes mistakes.

“Our response to conceding a goal was fantastic to go and get 2-1 up, but we just couldn’t kill the game off and ended up giving away a sloppy goal late on.

“There are going to be plenty of dropped points – especially over this period – but we’re on a really good run and we keep going.

“Reading are a good team and the manager is doing a good job. I don’t know why they are where they are.

“I knew it would be a very tough game and that proved to be the case.”

Steve Evans insisted his Stevenage side should have scored more as they beat Northampton 3-0 to remain in the League One play-off spots.

Jamie Reid put the hosts ahead after just two minutes before Jordan Roberts’ 42nd-minute cross evaded Max Thompson to double the lead.

Elliott List added a third midway through the second half to seal all three points against a Cobblers side who failed to have a shot on target.

Evans said: “If we are being honest Northampton got away lightly today, but it is a really good side with really good players. We tried getting some (of them) ourselves.

“We are pleased we have won the game and the supporters were entitled to that at home but we have seen a real good performance.”

Stevenage remain two points ahead of seventh but they are now only two points behind Peterborough in the automatic promotion places.

Evans, who led Boro to promotion from League Two last season, added: “We spoke to the boys about the period over Christmas and with the win today it leaves us a point behind where we expected but sometimes performances over the long period are good.

“There is no disputing that when you hear the Barnsley staff saying that (Boro’s 2-1 defeat at Oakwell on Saturday) was the best away performance of the season, we carried that forward today into this performance.

“Coming away from Barnsley they knew what they deserved but what you have with this group is fantastic and they work hard by backing each other.

“We shouldn’t forget that if we get a result here on Friday against Cambridge, we go into next year in the top four and that was unthinkable back in June and certainly unthinkable back in March.”

Northampton struggled after going behind early, and it took until the second half until they had a shot, which was a speculative free-kick from distance.

Northampton manager Jon Brady said: “It was hugely disappointing the goals we conceded, and especially conceding early on in the manner that we did.

“You can’t give the first goal away like that, it wasn’t good defending. The second one was a fluke goal that just loops in and again that shouldn’t happen.

“The third is also bad defending and put us on the back foot.

“It gave us a hugely tough afternoon and we will have to gain perspective and it is a difficult Christmas schedule and I have to manage bodies.

“Today wasn’t a good performance. I feel sorry for the fans but the performance wasn’t to the standard we require.”

Paul Simpson insisted there was plenty of time for Carlisle to stave off the threat of relegation following the 1-1 draw at Fleetwood.

The Cumbrians led through Owen Moxon’s goal after 27 minutes but were pegged back eight minutes later by a Jayden Stockley strike.

And while the point did not prevent Simpson’s side from slipping to the bottom of the table, he will not be pushing the panic button.

“It’s not pleasant,” he said.

“We’re in a tough position at the moment and we’ve dropped to the bottom of the league today, which nobody wants to see.

“Thankfully we’ve got lots of games to try to turn it around, we’ve got the January transfer window to try to strengthen the group and hopefully we’ll be able to do that.

“We’ve got to improve the squad and we’ve got to improve our consistency when we’re making opportunities.

“We were massively improved from the last game, without a doubt.

“I think we probably deserved more than just one point out of the game today as well so that’s a bit of a disappointment, but I’m really satisfied with the way that the players have gone about it, particularly a young starting XI.

“They gave us energy, they had a real desire about them, it’s just a pity we didn’t manage to finish off those chances we had.

“It’s a huge improvement after the last game. I thought we passed the ball quite well on what was a tricky surface, but at least it was a nice calm day today.

“We worked and competed well, we did all of the things that we would want to do, we got ourselves in the lead and I’m disappointed with the goal we conceded, we could have worked harder to stop it coming in.”

Fleetwood also slipped a place to sit second from bottom and manager Lee Johnson also feels their fortunes should improve when they welcome back some of their walking wounded.

“The boys are working hard,” he said.

“The last game at Portsmouth was a sapping game in terms of the energy levels, I thought it was a low-quality game today, if I’m honest.

“We let them off the hook far too many times when we had set-play opportunities, when we got into wide areas we demanded more from our wide men and a little bit changed.

“We have to be honest and say we lacked quality at times but we’re asking the same set of lads to churn it out at the moment when we’ve got so many injured.

“We’re hobbling into January but it’s important that we quickly refresh again.

“We just need more players to turn up, we need more to get back to their top form, some are nursing little niggles but they will have to keep getting out there because it’s all we’ve got.

“It’s going to be a really big January for us, I have a points target in my head, I’ll keep that to myself but it’s achievable.

“It’s going to be tight. In the next few weeks we’re going to have to nurse players back to health. I feel like in five or six weeks we could be in a good spot.”

Oxford boss Des Buckingham was far happier with his team’s second-half showing after they came from behind at the break to beat Cambridge 2-1 at the Kassam Stadium.

Cambridge led through Jordan Cousins’ goal at a corner after 30 minutes – and they should have been further ahead at half-time with James Brophy missing a great chance to make it 2-0.

Tyler Goodrham, who came into Oxford’s side because left winger Josh Murphy was injured, scored a brilliant solo equaliser nine minutes after the break, cutting in from the left and firing into the far corner from 22 yards.

Defender Ciaron Brown then headed in a winner five minutes into stoppage time when Cambridge goalkeeper Jack Stevens could only beat out Cameron Brannagan’s long-range drive.

It was only Buckingham’s second league win in seven games.

He said: “It was a nice way for us to finish the game.

“I said to the players at half-time that we needed to move the ball quicker and stick to our beliefs.

“I’m extremely happy with the response.

“Tyler has been very patient, he’s been coming on as a substitute a couple of times since I’ve been here.

“It’s about coming on or coming in and having an impact and Tyler’s done that extremely well.

“Losing Josh Murphy before the game was a blow.

“If you look at his record, Tyler doesn’t just score goals, he scores goals at important moments.

“It hopefully gives me a tough selection problem now for our next game against Derby.

“We were much better in the second half. We needed more speed and to move the ball quicker, and we did that.

“The changes we made and fresh legs coming on helped keep that sharpness on the field.”

Oxford’s dramatic late victory came after they lost to a last-minute goal in their last match at Northampton on Saturday.

Buckingham said: “We spoke about sticking to what we wanted to do.

“At Northampton we saw a loose structure coming in which cause us a lot of chaos.

“Teams come to us and sometimes want to settle for a point. We’re not happy with a point – we always want to go for three.”

Cambridge head coach Neil Harris said: “I feel for the players.

“We were that good first half we should have been three or four goals clear at half-time.

“We’ve got to be more ruthless in their penalty area.

“The quality of some of our play was outstanding but we have to take more responsibility in front of goal.

“We’re playing against a team that is fifth in the league and who topped the table for quite some time, so to come here and dominate as we did in the first half was impressive.”

Matt Taylor pointed to his players’ efforts as Bristol Rovers became the first home team to beat Portsmouth in League One this season.

Paddy Lane equalised for Pompey in the 76th minute after Antony Evans had curled in an exquisite free-kick 10 minutes earlier for the hosts, but Rovers’ Luke Thomas struck four minutes into added time for a winner.

Taylor believes that Portsmouth will ultimately be promoted this year but, after overseeing a win at Bolton 10 days ago and now winning his first league game at the Memorial Stadium, the former centre-back says his team must go for it if they want to get into the promotion play-off picture themselves.

“It was emotional at the end,” said Taylor who picked up a yellow card for his exuberant touchline celebrations following winger Thomas’ late goal.

“I thought the lads got what they deserved and I was so pleased with the effort they put in and the fact that they got more to show for it than they might have got at the end – certainly their [Portsmouth’s] goal seemed to come out of nothing, maybe a mistake in the middle of the park from ourselves and suddenly it’s 1-1.”

A fiery encounter saw 11 yellow cards handed out to both teams and Taylor said that central defender Sean Raggett could have seen red for one bad tackle on Rovers’ Aaron Collins.

“It was a passionate game and exactly what you want to see on Boxing Day,” he added.

“I thought they got after [winger] Thomas – it was almost like they took off one left back who got booked and put another on to do the same – I’m so glad for him that he kept on going and was in the right place at the right time to win us the game.”

Portsmouth head coach John Mousinho said his team must be more clinical after his substitutes Christian Saydee and Kusini Yengi missed good opportunities to grab late goals themselves.

“The shape change gave us momentum and got our attacking players doing the right things and we got back in the game deservedly and looked the team more likely to win,” he said.

“I thought a winner was coming [for Portsmouth]. We had a couple of goalmouth scrambles and good chances and got ourselves into a good position but Christian dragged his shot just wide. We have to got to do better in those areas.

“These games are tough. Sometimes these games are tight for 60-70 minutes and you don’t create a significant amount and players get tired…the state of the game changes and those are the times we have to be a lot better.”

Caretaker boss Gary Mills was proud of his Burton players after they beat Blackpool 1-0 to register a first win in nine League One matches.

Bobby Kamwa netted the game’s only goal after 10 minutes, with play-off hopefuls Blackpool unable to respond.

“It was a really good performance and really proud of the group,” Mills said.

“The energy and pride they showed in their performance was excellent and that is credit to everyone at the football club. They deserve that.”

Albion got off to a fast start and were rewarded when Kamwa’s teasing cross beat everybody and nestled in the far corner.

“It was a message (getting at Blackpool early) that we hammered home before the game,” Mills said. “We wanted to start fast and right, full of energy and we wanted to engage the crowd, who I thought were fantastic today for us.”

Former Leeds youngster Kamwa has not featured much for Albion this season but earned praise from his boss after scoring his first goal since the final game of 2022.

“We spoke at length about getting more crosses into the box,” Mills said. “The type of delivery was always asking questions.

“I thought Bobby was fantastic. He has come into the side today having been out for a little while, but he showed real energy and was a threat all game. I thought we looked a decent side on the counter-attack today.”

A rare clean sheet was down to superb defending, led by skipper John Brayford, and Mills knew that his side had put bodies on the line to secure victory.

“Defensively we were outstanding,” he said. “They gave us a real platform to play off and defended for their lives and they really stuck together.”

Blackpool head coach Neil Critchley was left bemoaning another poor away day as his team lost for the second time in a row on the road, having gone down 2-1 at Cambridge on December 16, denting their play-off aspirations.

“I am sick of having this feeling away from home, to be honest,” he said. “We give a team a goal head start, which means you are chasing the game.

“We played some good football in the first half with one or two decent opportunities.

“Second half, obviously, they are holding onto their lead and we have pushed them right back and it is not easy then to break down 11 men behind the ball, but when we got into good situations or promising areas of the pitch, we failed. Again. It is deja vu from Cambridge.”

Critchley was also critical of the defending for Burton’s goal.

“It’s a diagonal down the pitch and we are nowhere near aggressive enough on the touchline,” he said. “We don’t stop the ball coming in the box and it finds its way into the bottom corner.”

Exeter scored just their fourth goal in 14 matches to beat Wycombe 1-0 at St James Park and while it was not a thing of beauty, it meant everything to manager Gary Caldwell.

City’s poor form – they had not won in League One since September 16, a run of 13 games – has seen fans call for a change in manager, but the Grecians picked up a win they so desperately needed when Sonny Cox bundled the ball in from close range against a poor Wycombe side.

On-loan goalkeeper Vili Sinisalo then preserved the win with a penalty save deep into stoppage time from Luke Leahy, much to the delight of the under-fire Caldwell.

“It was an amazing goal! You score goals by running towards the scoring zone and by maintaining attacks, not just having one action,” he said.

“Too often we play good football to a point and then nothing comes of it but our energy, enthusiasm and desire to keep going was incredible. The goal summed it up – it is something that we work on and the most amazing goal I have ever seen!

“Sonny is a player with a big future. He went away on loan and showed his quality at a level way below where we are playing, but the way he has come back and shown improvement in his physicality and confidence shows the loan did him the world of good.

“Coming off the bench, he has been outstanding but today, I thought he was outstanding and it was his best performance he has had for this football club and like I have said many times, he has huge potential.

“Then, if you ever want someone to step up to the plate in a big game in a big moment, it is Vil Sinisalo and it was an incredible save from the penalty.

“They were the stand-out moments, but every player, every staff member and every person inside this stadium can be proud.”

Wycombe came close to levelling in stoppage time when Dale Taylor struck the post, before the visitors won a spot-kick when Harry Kite was deemed to have fouled Taylor, only for Leahy to miss the chance.

Wanderers boss Matt Bloomfield said: “I thought we were just off it in the first half. We were half a yard away from second balls when they dropped down and we weren’t compact and condensed enough in our shape and we played a little bit too open.

“Ultimately those little moments start to feed into a bit of momentum for Exeter, we corrected a couple of bits at half-time and I thought we were better in the second half.

“We looked more of a threat and their goal came at a time when we were in the ascendancy. To come so close at the end – the disallowed goal, Dale hitting the crossbar and the penalty…

“The margins of winning and losing games of football are invariable very close and they have been going against us recently.”

Barnsley continued their push for a place in the League One play-offs with a 3-2 win away at Port Vale.

Adam Phillips opened the scoring before John McAtee added a quickfire brace prior to half-time.

Ethan Chislett and Jack Shorrock both scored after the break to make the scoreline a lot more respectable, but Vale’s three-match unbeaten league run came to an end.

The hosts came close to taking the lead as Alfie Devine’s long-range effort went narrowly over the crossbar.

But it was the visitors who went ahead in the 17th minute when Phillips guided a header into the net after meeting a beautifully flighted delivery into the box from Herbie Kane.

Chislett threatened to equalise with a well-struck shot that was tipped over the crossbar by Liam Roberts, but the Valiants fell further behind just after the half-hour mark as Luton loanee McAtee stroked the ball home from Devante Cole’s cut-back.

The match was effectively over as a contest in the 37th minute when McAtee’s sensational strike from 35 yards – after Mael De Gevigney dispossessed Ryan Loft – made it three goals in two games for him.

Chislett found the net in the 52nd minute as Vale battled to find a way back into the game, but it was ruled out for offside.

The same player reduced the deficit 20 minutes later, with a bending right-footed shot, to give his side hope.

And although Shorrock headed in fellow substitute Uche Ikpeazu’s cross in stoppage time, Andy Crosby’s men were unable to find a leveller.

On-loan goalkeeper Vili Sinisalo was the Exeter hero with a stoppage-time penalty save to ensure his side ended a 13-match winless run with a 1-0 victory against Wycombe.

Sinisalo guessed correctly to keep out Luke Leahy’s effort after Sonny Cox’s goal had appeared to have earned Exeter a deserved win.

In was a dour first half that lacked quality with neither team creating much, but the second half was much more entertaining.

Alex Hartridge forced Max Stryjek into a good save and the Wycombe goalkeeper made an even better one to deny Reece Cole moments later as Exeter stepped it up a level.

The deadlock was finally broken after 66 minutes when Jack Aitchison smashed a cross into the box and Cox was in the right place at the right time to turn in from close range.

Wycombe almost levelled in stoppage time, but Dale Taylor struck the angle of post and then they were awarded a controversial penalty when referee charles Breakspear deemed that Harry Kite had fouled Dale Taylor, when it looked as though he took the ball.

But on-loan Aston Villa shot-stopper Sinisalo guessed correctly by diving to his left and kept out Leahy’s poor effort to claim a priceless win for the home side – their first since September 16.

Burton claimed a first win in nine Sky Bet League One games as Bobby Kamwa’s early goal sealed a 1-0 victory over play-off hopefuls Blackpool.

Kamwa’s strike came almost a year after his last goal, in the final game of 2022, and gave Albion something to build on.

Goalkeeper Max Crocombe picked him out on the left wing and some superb chest control allowed him to cut inside and swing in a cross that evaded Burton forward Bez Lubala before nestling in the far corner of the net.

Jordan Rhodes squandered a good chance for the visitors, firing over from 12 yards and ex-Blackpool man Lubala saw a long-range effort deflected wide.

Sam Hughes almost doubled Albion’s advantage two minutes into the second half, his header from Joe Powell’s corner deflecting just wide.

Ollie Norburn and James Husband flashed efforts wide as Blackpool chased a second-half equaliser.

Burton also needed crucial late blocks from skipper John Brayford and Steve Seddon to see off the threat of the Seasiders before a vital three points were finally secured.