After losing an early goal we bounced back to hit Vale with eight goals, the first time we have scored that much in a first team game since an 8-2 win at Alloa in December 1963.
There were three changes to the side which had went down at Dunfermline the previous week with Craig Wight taking over in goal from Thomas Flynn while Albert Puigdollers Saperas made his debut taking over from Colin Cameron while Mark Ramsay replaced Thomas O’Brien.
Both sides were clad in blue for the tie and Vale took a shock lead in only two minutes. A  Gordon pass through the middle brought hesitancy from Armstrong and Scott Moffat ran on to knee the bouncing ball past Wight from eight yards out.
Cowden almost got the equaliser within seconds when Stevenson played in Coult but his shot from only six yards was blocked by 'keeper Hudson.
But in nine minutes Vale were reduced to ten when  Dodds put in an horrific challenge on Stevenson on the half-way line and was immediately shown the red card.
In 15 minutes we threatened when Coult's header set up Saparas and his 14 yard volley was held by Hudson and then a minute later Stewart headed wide when it seemed easier to score.
In 19 minutes Coult's pass split the Vale defence and sent McKenzie clean through but Hudson brilliantly blocked the midfielder's 12 yard drive.
The leveller eventually came in 25 minutes when Greg Stewart held off a challenge and fired a left foot 20 yarder wide of Hudson.
Then six minutes later Cowden went ahead when Coult's header was picked up by Stewart and he fired home, again with his left peg, from 10 yards out.
And the striker completed his hat-trick three minutes from the break when he took Ramsay's pass and shot low past Hudson from 12 yards with the Vale defence caught flat footed.
We came out for the second period with our yellow tops on after the referee judged the sides' blue shirts were too alike and added to our tally in 47 minutes when Lewis Coult robbed a defender and fired his 19 yarder past Hudson and two minutes after that Marc McKenzie took Stewart's pass and fired a right foot shot past the keeper from eight yards out.
Then in 51 minutes came the sixth when Coult cleverly back heeled the ball over Hudson after a neat home move from a throw on the left hand side.
Number seven came 15 minutes later when a loose clearance fell to Mark Ramsay 35 yards out and he fired a right foot pile-driver past Hudson.
Then with 11 minutes left on the clock number eight arrived when substitute Cameron created the danger and Jamie Stevenson shot home.