John Askey saw his side go two goals behind after just 12 minutes yesterday evening and despite an improved second-half, the gaffer admits that his side were always up against it.
Walsall may be sat one spot above the solitary relegation spot in League Two, but Derek Adams has made additions to his squad since the beginning of the January and has seen an improvement in performances, and the Vale boss stresses that you must respect your opposition, especially when playing away.
Askey admits that he was disappointed in the way his side conceded the second goal in the 12th minute and says that they were always going to be up against it when going 2-0 down that early on.
The Valiants responded throughout the second-half and created numerous chances during the last 20 minutes after James Gibbons pulled one back, however they couldn’t find that elusive equaliser and the gaffer says his side were not good enough and they cannot make excuses.
“When you come to places like this you’ve got to first and foremost you need to give the opposition a bit of respect and know that it’s going to be a battle and you’ve got to fight.
“The second goal was disappointing, people haven’t stayed with their runners and then you’re two down and you’re always up against it.
“We responded second-half, we did a bit better but we still weren’t good enough but we had chances, we could have ended up drawing the game at the very least but we gave ourselves too much to do.
“It’s difficult when you come to these places obviously the wind is a big leveller, but we can’t make excuses we’ve just got to be better."
It was a first defeat in seven for the Valiants’ at the hands of Morecambe, and Askey is hoping his side can respond accordingly as they have done so often this season.
Yesterday’s fixture was the Vale’s fifth in January already, but without a game next Tuesday night, the gaffer emphasises that it will give his side a much needed breather.
The Valiants return to Vale Park on Saturday for the first time since New Years Day and Askey is hoping his side can get back to playing the football he knows they can play.
“It’s been a tough run of fixtures we’ve just played four away games on the bounce so it was always going to be difficult and take a bit out of us, but we’ve got a home game coming up so hopefully we can respond and if we get three points then we’re back in it.
“For ourselves we do need a bit of a breather obviously we’ve got Saturday coming up and then the free week to reorganise and get going again, but that’s the consequence of doing well in cup competitions so we’ve just got to get on with it and go again.
“Just get back to playing the football that we can play, we’ve just played two difficult games in difficult conditions where it’s not easy to play and that doesn’t suit us but hopefully on Saturday conditions will be better and we can get the ball down and play and how what we can do and get some goals in the back of the net."