Bolton Wanderers recent winning streak came to a halt as they suffered a heavy defeat against Port Vale at the University of Bolton Stadium.
Although the hosts managed to find the back of the net through Gethin Jones, Eoin Doyle and Lloyd Isgrove, Vale were always in control thanks to their bright start.
Ian Evatt made just one change to his side with young midfielder George Thomason making his first Football League start at the expense of the injured Andrew Tutte.
The visitors took an early lead through Manny Oyeleke who fired home from close range past Matt Gilks.
The Wanderers keeper was on hand to make two smart saves to prevent the visitors from going further ahead.
First he kept out a powerful drive from David Worrall before tipping over Cristian Montano’s strike from distance.
He couldn’t do anything about Nathan Smith’s bullet header after nine minutes as Vale raced into an early two-goal lead.
Gethin Jones pulled a goal back for Wanderers just two minutes later after Delfouneso’s pass split open the Vale defence.
Jones showed excellent control to connect with the striker’s pass but his initial effort was blocked. The ball broke to him again and he displayed excellent composure to curl in a beautiful right footer.
Eoin Doyle fired over from distance after Jones’ cross was deflected into his path. At this stage, Wanderers were right back in the contest and were creating chances.
Peter Kioso’s cross from the right hand side after some good work by Antoni Sarcevic was headed over by Doyle. Ian Evatt's men looked the likeliest of the two teams to score the next goal.
At the other end, Gilks made himself big to beat away Montano’s drive after Vale broke into the Wanderers box.
Another great passage of play saw Kioso ping in a beautiful ball into the box only for Leon Legge to clear it off his own line with Doyle lurking at the far post.
Thomason had initially provided in inch-perfect cross field pass to find Doyle in the build-up.
Doyle’s shot from distance after latching onto a Delfouneso knock-down was tipped over the bar for a corner by Scott Brown shortly afterwards.
Another cross from Kioso over on the right found Delfouneso on the penalty spot, but he was unable to keep his headed effort down and another chance went begging for the hosts.
Carl Boyeson awarded Vale a penalty just before the break when he adjudged Ricardo Almeida Santos to have fouled Devante Rodney.
Tom Conlon made no mistake from the spot, sending Gilks the wrong way to fire into the roof of the net.
The visitors extended their lead with a fourth strike less than a minute after the restart when Montano raced clear to chip the ball over Gilks.
Matters got worse when David Worrall added a fifth with a shot that flew into the bottom right hand corner.
Ian Evatt made a quadruple change after 55 minutes when he brought on Lloyd Isgrove, Ronan Darcy, Brandon Comley and Reiss Greenidge for Ali Crawford, Ryan Delaney, Alex Baptiste and George Thomason.
Nathan Smith added his name to the tally with Vale’s sixth, with just under half an hour remaining.
Doyle pulled a goal back for Wanderers shortly afterwards with a low drive from distance for his seventh goal of the season.
Sarcevic was looking to get a third for Wanderers but saw his shot blocked brilliant by Luke Joyce.
Delfouneso’s searching ball at the far post just evaded Sarcevic after Darcy’s intelligent pass created the opening.
Isgrove came on for an impressive cameo and he reduced the arrears with a volley into the roof of the net after Vale failed to clear Jones’ initial effort.
Wanderers made their final change when Tom White came on for Sarcevic with just over ten minutes to go.
Kioso looped the ball over Brown and into the net after Comley looped into the danger area but his effort was ruled out for offside.
White hit the cross bar from 25 yards late on after being teed up by Isgrove as Wanderers still battled to reduce the deficit before the final whistle.
Bolton Wanderers: Gilks, Jones, Kioso, Delaney (Greenidge 55), Almeida Santos, Baptiste (Comley 55), Crawford (Isgrove 55), Thomason (Darcy 55), Sarcevic, (White 81), Doyle, Delfouneso
Subs Not Used: Crellin, Mascoll.
Goals: Jones (11), Doyle (66), Isgrove (78).
Port Vale: Brown, Joyce, Legge, Smith, Worrall, Oyeleke (Burgess 88), Conlon, Montano (Hurst 69), Mills, Rodney, Fitzpatrick
Subs Not Used: Visser, Pope, Cullen, Brisley, Clark, Burgess, Hurst
Goals: Oyeleke (6), Legge (9), Conlon pen (42), Montano (46), Worrall (50), Smith (62).