A good season for the Vale was alive until the very last day, but a draw saw them miss out on a play off place.
2009/10 had started with a big difference in league and cup form for the Valiants as they defeated Championship duo Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday in the Carling Cup, before eventually going out at Scunthorpe in the 3rd round, whilst their only two victories in the league before the middle of October were home wins over Darlington and Grimsby, the two sides cut adrift at the foot of the table.
Relegation was very much possible but away wins over local rivals Shrewsbury and Crewe, on successive Saturdays, pulled Vale away from immediate trouble. Just prior to those games Vale had claimed their third cup scalp from a higher division when they defeated Stockport in the Johnstone Paints Trophy, but were beaten by League Two Bradford in the quarter finals.
Cup wins were again the only sign of joy in November as the Valiants defeated Stevenage in the FA Cup, but were knocked out by League One Huddersfield in round two, with the cup win being the only victory in seven games during November.
Although the Vale had only won four games going into December, they had also only lost four games, with ten draws, and this kept them in a mid table placing of fourteenth but just a couple of defeats away from the drop zone.
The weather was playing havoc with the fixtures but Vale picked up their performances and lost just one game through December and January, securing four wins and three draws in that period.
There was no sign of the play off charge that had been started with that mini run and those promotion dreams seemed dead when Vale lost four out of six games in February. Maybe it was that lack of pressure that allowed Vale players to play with more freedom but whatever it was it worked as three wins in four games at the start of March raised eyebrows and top scorer Marc Richards was bang in form.
A derby day defeat to Crewe, in front of over 7,000 at Vale Park, but the brakes on the promotion charge but that was soon forgotten as they went through April unbeaten, including a superb 2-1 home win over champions Notts County.
That brings us to the final two games. Vale went into the penultimate match in the last play off place but, with a whole host of clubs waiting just a point or two behind, they needed they would most probably need two wins to claim a play off spot. A heavy 4-0 defeat to Bournemouth send Vale plummeting to 9th going into the final day and even though they could only manage a 1-1 draw with Shrewsbury on that final day, a victory would still not have been enough to grab 7th place.
League record: P46 W17 D17 L12 F61 A50 PTS68 (10th)
Top scorers: 23-Marc Richards 10-Rob Taylor 8-Louis Dodds
FA Cup: 2nd Round
Carling Cup: 3rd Round
Johnstone Paints Trophy: Quarter Finals
Staffs Senior Cup: Runners Up