Pope had a quietly consistent start to the 2012–13 season, before hitting four goals in a 6–2 home win over former club Rotherham on 8 September. He was quoted as saying that this was the best game of his career, as he proved a point to his detractors at former club Rotherham. A brace in a 2–0 win over Exeter City at St James Park on 6 October took him to 11 goals in 13 games; this meant that, with the season only a quarter of the way in, the 27-year-old had reached his best ever goal tally. It also made him the fastest Vale player to reach double figures since Tom Nolan hit ten goals within the first eleven games of the 1933–34 season. Pope was quick to credit wing duo Jennison Myrie-Williams and Ashley Vincent for supplying him with the chances he needed to find the net so frequently. His seven goals in seven games saw him named as League Two Player of the Month for September 2012. Fans at Vale Park began to chant "Feed the Pope and he will score" throughout matches, and he picked up the nickname of the "Sneyd Green Sniper / Assassin", in reference to his hometown. A hat-trick in a 4–0 win over Bristol Rovers on 20 November meant that he became the quickest player to reach 20 goals (from the start of the season) in the club's Football League history. In February, he signed a new contract to keep him at the club until summer 2015. The next month he was named as League Two's Player of the Year after leading the division's scoring charts by five goals despite hitting an 11-game goal drought. After winning the award he claimed his third hat-trick of the season on 29 March, as Vale beat promotion rivals Cheltenham Town 3–2. Vale secured promotion with a third-place finish at the end of the season, and Pope finished on 33 goals in 51 games. He was further voted as Port Vale's Player of the Year.