PORT VALE 1 CITY 1

JAMIE Proctor will be blissfully unaware of the significance.

But his surname carries an added weight of expectation among City fans.

It is 14 years now since Michael Proctor sent Valley Parade into raptures with the last-gasp equaliser for nine men against Burnley.

It remains a vivid memory for all who were there. Let’s face it, moments like that were few and far between in one of the most testing decades in the club’s history.

Proctor’s two-month stay under Nicky Law, during which he scored four times including an equally unexpected winner at Ipswich, set the bar for every subsequent loan striker. Most have come nowhere near.

It is far too soon to judge how Jamie Proctor’s spell in the claret and amber will pan out. But Saturday wasn’t bad for starters.

His goal at Vale Park may not have carried the same drama as his namesake’s leveller coming midway through the second half.

But given the circumstances, you could argue it was just as important.

Again, City were down in numbers after Lee Evans paid a heavy price for a rash lunge on Anthony Grant.

And it came against a backdrop of tetchiness that has built up after two unconvincing displays against ten men.

No wonder Phil Parkinson came out all guns blazing in the post-match press to emphasise the point, which had been derided by many in midweek, that playing depleted teams is not necessarily that easy.

Devante Cole’s departure, while no surprise for those inside the club who had witnessed the striker’s difficult relationship with the staff, had come as a bolt from the blue to fans with its suddenness.

Three days after starting against Bury, and missing a penalty in the shoot-out, he was waving a red shirt on the Fleetwood pitch – incidentally, looking much happier than he had done when he posed for the cameras at Valley Parade.

Proctor had been a striker on Parkinson’s watch list after a couple of strong performances against his side. So he was happy to take him the other way to fill the hole left by James Hanson’s thigh injury and the gradual recovery from three months out for Steve Davies.

But even given the temporary fix nature of the deal – at least it is for now – there was a pressure for the new boy to produce straight away.

Cole, after all, had announced his arrival in the grand manner by scoring the Valley Parade winner against the same opponents.

What if he did the same for Fleetwood while Proctor toiled in a side that have forgotten their route to goal? That “weird” atmosphere at the last two home games, as Parkinson described it, would have manifested itself into potentially something far more prickly for the two coming up.

As it turned out, the City boss could not have scripted Saturday any better.

Proctor led the line superbly, even before the goal, held the ball up and capped a busy afternoon with a thumping header that Hanson would have admired.

Cole, on the other hand, played a 30-minute cameo from the bench in a goalless draw on the west coast. Fleetwood were booed off at the final whistle.

Proctor had not even had a proper training session with his new team-mates beforehand.

The pitch at Apperley Bridge on Friday morning was an “absolute quagmire” in the manager’s words as they squelched the loanee through his roles and responsibilities.

His bright response at Vale Park will have earned another start against Barnsley tomorrow and buy Hanson some more recovery time for Fleetwood’s visit on Saturday – when Proctor is not allowed to feature.

Proctor’s intervention, which sparked a second-half charge that could have nicked an unlikely win, rescued an afternoon that looked to be going downhill fast after Evans was sent packing.

City had been trailing from 110 seconds in when Grant’s raking pass allowed Ajay Leitch-Smith to find a gap between James Meredith and Reece Burke and beat Ben Williams from a tight angle.

Leitch-Smith was then guilty of two awful misses to compound City’s problems, blazing over after Williams had parried from JJ Hooper before failing to connect with a header three yards out to convert an Adam Yates cross.

City’s best response up to half-time was provided by Billy Clarke, eager to play his way back into the manager’s good books after looking off the pace of late.

He neatly wriggled through two tackles in the box and slid in an inviting ball for Proctor to tap home – but the pass rolled agonisingly just behind his former Crawley strike partner.

Billy Knott’s omission from the squad on the second anniversary of joining Vale on loan had come as a shock. Parkinson later explained he had wanted two wingers on the bench and felt Chris Routis was the right choice as the back-up in centre midfield.

It also meant a recall for Gary Liddle after City had effectively shut the door on Carlisle’s interest in the week.

But he was sacrificed at half-time as Parkinson went with two natural wingers. It was a call many felt was overdue but again the manager was keen to stress that Tony McMahon had provided the goals from the right in their last two wins.

That midfield four, he also pointed out, had only lost once this season at Sheffield United.

Mark Marshall was to make a big difference against his former team. But not before City were left one short as Evans lost control after a spin in the centre circle and jumped in on Grant.

It was a sink or swim moment for Parkinson’s side. They responded to the adversity with a show of strength that he described as “brilliant”.

Proctor clipped a pass out to Marshall, who beat his man and stood up the cross for the centre forward to power home despite the attentions of Grant on the line.

Then Burke, playing like he’d never been away, threatened a second from a Marshall set-up with a fierce drive that Jak Alnwick finger-tipped over the bar.

And Rory McArdle should have hit the target with an unchallenged header from a corner as the noise behind that goal grew. But given the chorus of “Jamie Proctor’s having a party”, City had the fans back onside.