ALBION fell to a 2-0 defeat in the first Staffordshire derby of the season as second half goals from Ben Garrity and Ellis Harrison took all the points back down the A50.

Garrity struck early in the second half capitalising on a rebound and Albion struggled to get back into the game after that with Harrison sealing the win for Vale in stoppage time with a swift break away.

It was a hard result to take for Albion who looked good for large spells of the first half and had early chances but the longer the game went on and it became more of an attritional battle the harder it got for them.

After a much improved showing against Ipswich Town on Tuesday evening, manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was forced into one change with Conor Shaughnessy confirmed as being expected to spend an extended on the sidelines with injury. His replacement was Victor Adeboyejo which hinted at a change in formation to allow the former Barnsley man to link up with Gassan Ahadme in attack. The Albion boss also opted to recall Ben Garratt in goal. Friday's loan signing, Corrie Ndaba started his Albion spell on the bench.

A brisk start from the Brewers led to an early corner as Hamer and Adeboyejo linked up well on the left and only the head of Garrity, on the goal line prevented Hamer nodding in the deep corner.

Albion's positive start continued and Davis Keillor-Dunn found himself denied by a block from Connor Hall as he looked to get his shot off after drifting into a more central position.

Jack Stevens produced the first real save of the afternoon on seventeen minutes when some lovely passing enabled Smith to drive into the box and look for the far corner with a curling shot that the on-loan Oxford keeper pushed away to safety through a crowd of bodies.

Vale were playing with high energy but were not really able to penetrate the Burton box with real chances and so it fell to Brad Walker, juts before the half hour, to chance his arm with a long range effort that Garratt had to fingertip over the bar and from the resulting corner Ellis Harrison rose highest at the back post to head over the top of the goal.

John Brayford had to clear off the line on 38 minutes when Vale worked the ball into the box well and this time it was Garrity who was denied as his shot beat Garratt but not the covering Brewers skipper.

Tom Conlon tried to break the staemate before half time but his tame effort slid wide of the post.

Half time: Burton Albion 0-0 Port Vale

Four minutes after the break and Vale were in front. Garratt initially did well to parry away a stinging shot from Ellis Harrison but GARRITY was on hand to pounce on the loose ball and drill it into the corner.

Garratt did well to deny Mal Benning on 53 minutes before Conlon was denied by a combination of Oshilaja and the tightening angle as Vale looked for a second.

Louis Moult came on to spice up the Burton attack and with Davis Keillor-Dunn having a frsutrating afternoon Joe Powell was brought on for the last quarter of the contest.

The game was becoming an attritional battle as Albion looked to push for an equaliser and Vale looking to take the heat out of the game as much as they could and disrupt the flow of the match.

Brayford ran purposefully onto a loose ball on the right but his piledriver of an effort was blocked inside the box by Nathan Smith before the skipper had a headed chance inside the area from Borthwick-Jackson's cross but his header flew wide of the post.

Benning's late corner almost went straight in, Garratt doing well to claw it away but any chance Albion had of grabbing a point was gone when HARRISON surged through on goal in the first minutes of added on time to slot calmly home.

ALBION: Garratt; Brayford, Hughes, Oshilaja (Castro, 88), Hamer; Smith, Borthwick-Jackson, Taylor, Keillor-Dunn (Powell, 67); Ahadme, Adeboyejo (Moult, 55).
Substitutes: Sinisalo, Onyango, Ndaba, Lakin.

GOAL: VALE - Garrity (49), Harrison (90+1)

Referee: Andy Haines

Attendance: 3,744