A brace from Cristian Montano a minute either side of half time saw Port Vale inflict a disappointing 2-0 defeat on Cambridge United in Sky Bet League Two.

United, who made one change from the FA Cup exit to Newport a week earlier with Piero Mingoia returning to the starting eleven, looked hot in the early encounters in extremely chilly conditions.

Uche Ikpeazu looped a cross in from the left inside five minutes, where Ibehre held off his marker only to head straight into the hands of Vale keeper Ryan Boot.

The hosts came back at United quickly though and spurned two good opportunities with Jake Carroll just about getting his body in the way of a fiercely struck effort from Cristian Montano at the far post, before David Forde was called into action when catching a header from the resulting corner.

Harrison Dunk picked out a gem of a cross to find Ikpeazu tearing into the box midway through the half, which the striker took down well on his right boot but was denied the chance to shoot due to an excellent covering tackle from a Vale defender.

Forde calmly palmed down Ben Whitfield’s well hit volley on the half hour mark, and denied Montano with a strong stop low to his left moments later, as the winger grew into a real threat for United as the half progressed.

Leon Legge caught Boot in no man’s land when the centre-back beat the keeper to a Mingoia corner delivery only to head over the target ten minutes before the break.

And just as the sides looked to be heading down the tunnel all square, the hosts struck through danger man Montano, who lifted Worrall’s cross past Forde into the top corner with an excellent left footed finish.

The winger doubled Vale’s lead moments after half time, when a deep corner delivery was smashed back into the six yard box where Montano fired into an empty net, giving United a huge uphill battle for the remainder of the game.

It proved to be a step too far for the U’s, who were reduced to ten men in the final minute of the game when Ikpeazu received a second yellow card from referee Anthony Coggins to bring a dire afternoon to an end.

Port Vale: Boot, Anderson, Kay, Pope, Worrall, Montano (Pugh, 81 mins), Gibbons, Smith, Whitfield (Barnett, 65 mins), Tonge, Gunning

Cambridge United: Forde, Halliday, Legge, Taylor, Carroll, Mingoia (Maris, 54 mins), O’Neil, Elito, Dunk (Brown, 54 mins), Ikpeazu, Ibehre (Azeez, 49 mins)

Attendance: 3,129 (205 away)