Assistant manager full of praise as the Vale defeat Shrewsbury Town 4-0 to secure Papa Johns Trophy progress.

• Andy Crosby | “An excellent team performance with really good quality on the ball”
• Port Vale assistant manager discusses his side’s performance in 4-0 Papa Johns Trophy victory over Shrewsbury Town
• Crosby: “Young players came onto the pitch and showed how far that this club has come in the last 20 months because this is an established League One team in Shrewsbury. So for us to come here and play really well with the ball and be really aggressive without the ball is a pleasing night’s work.”

Port Vale’s assistant manager Andy Crosby says Tuesday night’s 4-0 win at Shrewsbury Town shows how far the club has progressed over the past 20 months as three Academy graduates finished the clash at the Montgomery Waters Meadow on an evening when Vale history was made.

Academy graduate Jack Shorrock became the youngest first team player in Port Vale history at 15 years and 145 days when he replaced David Worrall in the second-half after Dennis Politic’s hat-trick and Brad Walker’s wonder strike sealed a fine win for Darrell Clarke’s side.

Reflecting post-match with iFollow the Vale, Crosby said:

“It was an excellent team performance, really good quality on the ball, a clean sheet and minutes into people coming back from injury.

“Young players came onto the pitch and showed how far that this club has come in the last 20 months because this is an established League One team in Shrewsbury. So for us to come here and play really well with the ball and be really aggressive without the ball is a pleasing night’s work.

“We spoke over the past week or two about our style and how we can progress and be effective in League One. We are playing against some big, big clubs but we want to continue to progress the football club, the playing style and we think we can do that by dominating the ball a little bit more than we have been doing. It is credit to everyone, credit to the lads with the 11 changes from Saturday after a really good performance with the ball and you’d say tonight an even better one.”

On the Academy graduates who were involved, Crosby added praise for the individual players and the staff within the Academy, led by academy manager Will Ryder.

“Tommy [McDermott] started the game,” Crosby said. “He found himself in the first team group in pre-season and took his opportunity really well, he’s training with us on a regular basis and the lad has got quality. He has got to knuckle down and do all of the things that make you a professional footballer.

“Young Jack [Shorrock] came onto the pitch tonight and looked a real part of it; he trained with us yesterday, nothing seemed to faze him, he is a great kid and I am really pleased for him tonight. Hopefully it is the first of many for him.

“There must be a pathway and the players have to see evidence of it; three players finished the game tonight who are products of the Academy. It is credit to Will [Ryder] who has come into the football club, credit to the coaches within the Academy who work with the young players on a daily basis and have been a part of their journey so far.”

The headlines of the evening of course belonged to Politic, who added his first goals since returning to the Vale on loan, with the Romanian’s hat-trick reminding the travelling supporters of the flair and quality he possesses.

“We know from when Dennis was here last year that if we get him in the final third he can create, he can go past people, he can take opportunities and he can score so we have to get the ball into good areas, he has to get the ball in good areas and he has to be effective in the final third, there has to be end product from him,” Crosby explained.

“He also has to do his work without the ball and he did that really well tonight; he will get the headlines with the hat-trick but I thought the whole team, every single player’s standard tonight was 8/10 at the very least and that results in a 4-0 win.”