Following another impressive display by his team, John Askey was left frustrated that his side did not claim all three points against Northampton Town in their first home game of the new campaign.
Askey was once again impressed by his team's performance, that displayed the progressive and exciting style of play that he has been implementing, and was pleased with the amount of chances they created, hitting the target six more times than they had in their previous match.
Along with increasing the number of chances, the gaffer has been working on fitness, and he was again happy with how well the players were able to battle until the final whistle, where he thought they were unfortunate to not find a winner.
But the overall performance was full of positives for the boss, who thought that on another day the game could have ended with a win, had certain things, such as the Manny Oyeleke shot that deflected off of David Amoo and onto the bar, gone their way.
He said: “Frustrating on one hand, pleased on another that we performed as well as we did, [we] created a lot of chances, I thought the longer the game went on as well, we looked the stronger of the two teams.
“Overall I think it was a decent performance, but just disappointed we haven’t got the three points.
“It wasn’t to be today, but hopefully I won’t be saying that next week, we’ve got to make things happen, but there’s pleasing signs, but we still need to improve.”
The gaffer also identified set-piece defending as an area that needs to be worked on, having conceded from corners in the last two games, as well as making sure that they take advantage of their own set-pieces as they have been leaving Vale exposed, and open to counter attacks.
Despite being disappointed to only draw the game, Askey insisted it was important to remember that it was another point picked up against a strong side, and has given them a good base to build upon and start getting three points.
Askey is hoping that the first win of the season will come this Tuesday against Burton Albion, in the Carabao Cup, a game where he plans to rotate some of the squad and take advantage of the good depth acquired over the summer.
He said: “Obviously, you don’t want to keep drawing, but what we can do, from the performances, is take confidence and hopefully keep performing well, we know the wins are going to come.
“I feel as though we’ve got a stronger squad now, and we can bring people in and out.
“It’s [Burton] a good opportunity for the players again, to test themselves against a team in the league above, and they’re quite a strong team as well, so it’s one that the players will look forward to.”