 After scoring on the opening day against Crawley Town, Richards then spent a month on the sidelines with an ankle injury.He made his return to the starting eleven against Plymouth Argyle on 10 September, only to end up with a straight red card and three match ban for an incident with Warren Feeney, an incident the striker described as 'handbags'.He returned to the first team on 1 October for only his fourth appearance of the campaign, and bagged both of Vale's goals against Rotherham United.