[12] Having won on the opening day, Vale then fell to a heavy 4–0 defeat at fellow newly promoted side Exeter City, with Jamie Proctor having to make do with 17-year-old attacking midfielder Tommy McDermott as a strike partner amid a shortage of specialist forwards on the books.

[13] One specialist forward was signed on 11 August, Welshman Ellis Harrison arrived for an undisclosed fee from Fleetwood Town, having previously won two promotions under Clarke at Bristol Rovers.

[15] Both signings made their debuts in an entertaining 0–0 home draw with Bolton Wanderers, in which the away side were reduced to ten men after Ricardo Santos was sent off on 37 minutes.

[16] Vale went on to lose 2–1 away at Milton Keynes Dons, where a brace from Bradley Johnson gave the hosts their first points of the campaign, and after the match Clarke defended his decision to rotate the squad to rest players.

[19] As the transfer window drew to a close, the club signed 19-year-old Irish striker Mipo Odubeko on a season-long loan from West Ham United.

[25] Ten days later, Vale came from behind thanks to a late Harrison header to draw 1–1 at Barnsley; Stevens received praise for his performance after making several good saves.

[29] Seven days later, a crowd of 28,706 came to Pride Park Stadium to witness the Vale come from behind to beat Derby County 2–1 despite Tom Conlon missing a penalty; the referee awarded Vale another penalty in the second half, which Ellis Harrison converted, and after Derby goalscorer James Collins was sent off for an elbow on Smith, James Wilson scored his first goal of the campaign to win the game on 66 minutes.

[37] Billy Bodin and Matty Taylor – who had both played for Darrell Clarke at Bristol Rovers – scored braces to condemn Vale to a 4–0 defeat at Oxford United.

[43] They beat Morecambe 1–0 at home in the boxing day fixture, with Gavin Massey scoring the only goal of the game with a "fantastic long-range strike" on 41 minutes.

[44] The year ended with a 2–0 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday, with Michael Smith scoring a first-half penalty and a curved strike from outside the box in the second half;[45] the away support of 3,139 was the Vale's largest league away following since February 2002.

[47] The first piece of January transfer window business was a departure, as Connor Hall was sold to Colchester United as he required a club closer to his Cambridgeshire home.

[49] Sky Sports moved the home with game with Peterborough United to a freezing cold Monday night on 16 January, where a second-half brace from Ephron Mason-Clark secured an away victory for newly appointed opposition manager Darren Ferguson.

[50] The following day, Harry Charsley's departure to League Two side Newport County was confirmed; similarly to Walker, he had struggled for gametime in central midfield.

[59] A 3–2 defeat at Shrewsbury Town followed, which Clarke shouldered the blame for after admitting to picking the wrong starting eleven which left the side vulnerable to set-pieces.

[61] A seven-game run without a win came to an end with a 1–0 home victory over Exeter City, with Forrester scoring the only goal of the game one minute after the visitors were reduced to ten men.

[65] Vale then picked up a point on the road with a 1–1 draw at Fleetwood Town with Taylor opening his account for the club, before Jack Marriott equalised on 84 minutes.

[70] This was followed by a 3–0 defeat at another relegation-threatened club in Accrington Stanley on Good Friday, where Stevens dropped the ball into his own net and Ojo was sent off in stoppage-time for violent conduct – the first red card of Vale's season.

[1] Crosby's first game in charge was a spirited 2–1 defeat at promotion-chasing Ipswich Town, with Nathan Broadhead's second half brace cancelling out Benning's opener.

[78] In May, Funso Ojo admitted that many of the squad lost focus after losing Connor Hall in the January transfer window and sensing nothing to play for, leading to momentum turning against the club and a run of poor results.

[88] In January, the club stated that crowds of 10,000 would be needed to support the management in building a promotion winning team as the ownership decided to show "restraint" in the transfer window.

[96] Port Vale had a home tie with Exeter City (League One) in the first round of the FA Cup and Clarke was disappointed to lose the game 3–2, saying that "the second half was nowhere near the standards we set".

[97] Vale were drawn at home to Rotherham United (Championship) in the first round of the EFL Cup and suffered a 2–1 defeat, having trailed by two goals at half-time.