John Askey praised the character of his team’s performance, despite being disappointed his side were only able to come away with a point from yesterday’s Cheltenham Town clash.
Despite going a goal behind, the gaffer admitted he was left frustrated to have not come away with all three points from a game where he was pleased with the fight his players displayed.
The Vale went a goal down in 24th minute when Alex Addai found the back of the net from what appeared to be an offside position, adding to Askey’s frustration from the result, but the response by the team impressed the gaffer.
The performance reminded the boss of those from earlier in the season and he commended the spirit they showed as they battled to try and secure the win against a Cheltenham team sat third from top.
The amount of chances the Vale created in the game also impressed the boss, with improvements shown from the Walsall game in an area that has been key for Askey since pre-season.
He said: “Really disappointed that we haven’t come away with the three points, we played well, back to our best, there’s one or two things we need to improve on but it was more like what we’ve been doing at the start of the season.
“It [Cheltenham’s goal] didn’t only look offside, it was offside, we’ve been able to look at the video and he’s clearly a yard past our last player so disappointed the officials can’t see that.
“We responded really well again, as we do when we go a goal behind, just disappointed we’ve not taken the chances we’ve created.
“It’s pleasing that we showed signs of getting back to where we should be, I’m just pleased that for the supporters that’ve come, they’ve seen a decent game.”
The man that was instrumental to the Valiants’ equaliser was David Amoo, who has struggled in recent weeks but rewarded the manager’s faith with a standout performance against one of the league’s strongest sides.
Amoo’s dangerous cross was turned into Cheltenham’s net by their own man, and the gaffer expressed his pleasure to see Amoo back to causing defences trouble, along with James Gibbons and David Worrall.
As the team continue into the hectic Christmas period of games, Askey emphasised the importance of keeping players fit and prepared for the number of matches to be played as the side aim to end the year on a high.
He said: “He [Amoo] started to threaten in behind, he did that a lot, James Gibbons behind him did well… it’s pleasing to see him [Amoo] back to what he can do and when he’s like that, and with David [Worrall] as well, we’re going to cause teams problems.
“We’ve shown throughout the season, it doesn’t matter whether we’re playing top or bottom, we can compete against anybody, and the thing is we tend to play really well against the top teams, we’ve got to make sure we play like that against the lesser teams who perhaps come here and sit behind the ball.
“It’s [Christmas period] such an important time that the players have got to realise that this is a really important time for everybody and they’ve got to do things right.”