Vale defender Carl Dickinson has divulged into Vale’s training ground aim for the week – stop conceding goals and communicate.

Dickinson who signed for the Valiants in the summer believes the work that Vale have been doing on the training ground will pay dividends this Saturday.

He told Valiant Player: “We’ve been working on it all week and there is no better way to put it right than on Saturday.

“I think it is just about communicating well, I think a lot of stuff comes down to communication and we have been working on it all week with the gaffer and Pagey (Rob Page) and hopefully you’ll be able to see that on Saturday that we’re more of a unit.”

The defender, who is comfortable at either left-back or centre-back admits it was tough to lose in such dramatic circumstances but believes Vale must learn from their mistakes.

Dickinson explained: “I think if you look back at all the goals we’ve conceded this season, most could have been stopped one way or another.

“It’s something that we need to sort out because it is costing us at the minute.

“I think the third goal last week against Leyton Orient was gut-wrenching to be honest, to concede a goal like that at that time of the game.”

Dickinson believes Vale are improving gradually as a defensive unit and describes how there’s a need for each Vale player, defender or not to do his defensive duties.

“We need to be a tight unit, not just the defence, we need to be tight all over the pitch making sure that when one lad closes down he’s got a load of lads willing to back him up.

“I think we’ve been doing that better recently, especially against Leyton Orient in the second-half, I thought the way we closed down was really good,” he explained.

Dickinson is wary of Coventry City’s false league position and has praised the visitors’ start to the season.

“They’ve started the season off really well. I think if they hadn’t of had this 10 point deduction they would have been around the top five or six.

“I think that is all credit to Steven Pressley his staff and their players, they’ve still got some really good lads there and I think they’re showing that now.”

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