Ben Garrity was the matchwinner as Port Vale bounced back from a heavy defeat on the opening day of the League One season to claim a 1-0 win over Reading.

Garrity’s hugely-deflected shot settled the contest in the 72nd minute, earning Vale a morale-boosting victory after losing 7-0 against Barnsley last weekend.

Andy Carroll had a golden chance to put Reading ahead with a 12th-minute penalty after Nesta Guinness-Walker was fouled in the box by Dan Jones, but goalkeeper Connor Ripley denied him.

At the other end, Vale defender Alex Iacovitti fired the ball into the net just before the half-hour mark, only for it to be ruled out for offside.

The early stages of the second-half lacked goalmouth action but the home side looked more likely to break the deadlock.

The winning goal came 18 minutes from time as Garrity’s shot on the spin took a massive deflection before looping over debutant goalkeeper David Button’s head and in off the post.

Funso Ojo came agonisingly close to making it 2-0 in stoppage time, but his shot was saved by Button and came back off the crossbar.

Reading nearly equalised in the dying moments when substitute Lewis Wing’s cross-shot hit the bar, but Vale held on for all three points.

Port Vale boss Andy Crosby hailed his side’s character after they twice came from behind to beat Fleetwood 3-2 and progress to the second round of the Carabao Cup.

Vale had been thrashed 7-0 by Barnsley in their opening Sky Bet League One match of the new season on Saturday – and soon found themselves trailing to an early goal from Cian Hayes.

Ethan Chislett equalised with his first goal since joining on a free transfer from AFC Wimbledon, but Ryan Graydon put the visitors back in front at the start of the second half.

Josh Thomas, on loan from Swansea, levelled things up again at 2-2 before Chislett’s second of the night settled matters with 18 minutes left.

“It was an excellent response to the weekend,” Crosby said.

“I said to the players that football is an easier game to play when you are full of confidence and belief – and that obviously takes a big hit with the manner of defeat on Saturday.

“Then you go 1-0 down in your first home game and that makes it challenging, but we responded well. We scored three excellent goals.”

Crosby added: “There is a lot of work to do, but we are pleased with the reaction after a challenging period for us.”

Fleetwood boss Scott Brown was less than impressed by the way his side twice failed to hold on to their lead.

“I thought we were exceptional for the first 10 or 15 minutes, but we completely switched off after that and we became sloppy,” he said.

“(Our) wing-backs didn’t get high enough up the park and the strikers didn’t link up play well enough before half-time.

“We were in total control of the game in the second half and then we made sloppy mistakes and we gave away the goals.”

Brown added: “It is never nice coming away from home knowing you have to score four goals, so we need to stop those mistakes.”

Ethan Chislett struck twice as Port Vale came from behind to beat Fleetwood 3-2 and reach the second round of the Carabao Cup.

Cian Hayes had given the visitors an early lead in the fifth minute when he curled home a fine effort off the far post.

South African Chislett, a summer signing on a free transfer after leaving AFC Wimbledon, equalised in style with a stunning strike from the edge of the box in the 17th minute.

Fleetwood goalkeeper Jay Lynch made a double save to deny Josh Thomas and then Ellis Harrison just before half-time.

Vale made a fast start to the second half as Ryan Graydon got up highest at the near post to nod home Junior Quitirna’s corner.

Swansea loanee Thomas scored his first professional goal just before the hour after driving into the box to make it 2-2 just before the hour.

The turnaround was completed with 16 minutes left as substitute Gavin Massey stood up a cross, after beating Lynch to the ball, for Chislett to nod home from close range.

Vale keeper Connor Ripley ensured there were no penalties as he made two fine saves from Fleetwood defender Josh Earl in the last minute.

Devante Cole scored a hat-trick as Barnsley started life under Neill Collins in sensational fashion with a 7-0 thrashing of lacklustre Port Vale at Oakwell.

Liam Kitching, Jon Russell and Andrew Dallas were on also on target while Dan Jones netted an own goal as last season’s League One play-off finalists, now managed by Collins following Michael Duff’s departure to Swansea, ran riot.

The hosts broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute when debutant Corey O’Keeffe intercepted a loose pass and swept a low ball across to Cole who slotted home.

Barnsley doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time when Jones turned into his own net.

Cole, the son of former England and Manchester United striker Andy Cole, notched his second just two minutes after the break, this time latching onto Barry Cotter’s cross and lashing home.

The hat-trick was completed in the 53rd minute. As his side countered, Cole went alone and struck with just enough power for the ball to roll into the net.

Reds skipper Kitching added a fifth on the hour mark. Receiving the ball from Herbie Kane, the defender had time to control and calmly finish beyond Connor Ripley.

Collins’ side added a sixth four minutes later as Russell headed in from Nicky Cadden’s free-kick.

Substitute Dallas grabbed a debut goal in the sixth minute of added time, diving to head home from Cotter’s cross.