Manager John Askey has been pleased with the performances he has seen from his team so far this season but called for his players to make sure they finish games off to prevent any more late heartache.
After the Valiants were denied their first league away win of the season with another late equaliser, the gaffer has highlighted personal mistakes an area that needs to be improved to guarantee points in the future.
Following Saturday’s Leyton Orient clash, Askey again labelled players switching off as an issue and has reiterated that point, saying how they need to make sure to kill off games and not allow sides back into matches.
Going forward, the boss emphasized how vital it is to remain on the front foot when controlling a game, because when playing well his side are very difficult to take on, whereas when they have allowed the opposition back into the game they have been punished.
Askey did however express how he feels the side are moving in the right direction, with the team getting better going forward, scoring eight goals in the last three games, but must keep tight at the back, with the need to not give teams the chance to get back into games in the future key to their success.
He said: “One of the things we are looking at is first-half we didn’t give them [Orient] a minute, we looked really good first-half, second-half we allowed them to get too much time on the ball so that’s one of the areas we’ve got to work on.
“We’ve got to keep pressing teams and keep putting teams under the cosh, because when we do that we look a good team, when we sit off people it invites pressure… but the main thing is for individuals to cut out the mistakes they’re making.
“We keep improving, the signs are there, we’re starting to score goals… we’ve got to get a good balance, we’ve played some good football at times this season, we’ve just got to be a little bit more ruthless.”
The boss believes the abilty to make sure games are seen off before the final whistle will be helped by taking a two goal advantage in a game, something they are yet to do this campaign, but Askey is confident in his squad to achieve that aim.
Squad depth, options and competition for places has been a central theme to Askey’s plans for this season and he again spoke about the strength at his disposal, particularly in the attack with the likes of Jordan Archer, Cristian Montano and David Amoo all returning to action.
With Morecambe travelling to Vale Park on Saturday, the gaffer hopes the Vale will extend their unbeaten run and add another three points onto the board as they continue to strive towards their goal of attaining a Play-Off position finish.
He said: “We said all along we were trying to get competition in every place, every position, and it gives us an option to play different ways as well as we saw when we played Macclesfield, we played with a diamond.
“Everybody that’s come in has done well… it’s up to players to take the opportunity and show what they can do, I’ve got belief in the player’s I’ve brought in and at the moment they’re showing good signs.
“We’ve got a home game coming up, if we win that then it puts us in a reasonable position, at the moment it can go one way or the other, but at the moment we’re hoping we’re going to be looking up the table trying to get into the Play-Off position.”