Defender says players tried to not overcomplicate their performance as the Valiants battled to 0-0 draw with Oxford United.

• Mal Benning | “We got back to basics”
• Port Vale defender speaks to the media following 0-0 draw with Oxford United in League One.
• Benning: “We all knew we were well off it in the past two games as a squad, so it is about securing the points now and getting as many as we can between now and the end of the season.”

Port Vale defender Mal Benning says the Valiants got “back to basics” to record a 0-0 draw against Oxford United at Vale Park on Easter Monday.

But for a series of excellent saves from Oxford goalkeeper Simon Eastwood, the Valiants might well have won all three points and Benning was pleased to be involved in a couple of moments of quality to create opportunities.

“We gave it a good go in the second half,” Benning said. “Off the back of performances that we knew weren’t good enough against Accrington [Stanley] and Cambridge [United], we got back to basics, which I thought we did well as a team, and showed bits of quality when we created our chances – we just needed one to fall in for us!

“It was a good point and we can build on it. We all knew we were well off it in the past two games as a squad, so it is about securing the points now and getting as many as we can between now and the end of the season.”

Manager Darrell Clarke said before the game that he picked an experienced side to end a run of three poor performances in the Vale’s last four League One matches.

“We had a great first half of the season with the bounce from the promotion and we have now had a sticky period, which we will learn from as a club going into next season.

“It has been a good season as a whole but we need to keep building on it and finish on a high. If you ask all of the experienced lads in the dressing room, they’ll have all been through periods like this in their careers, where things just aren’t going for us and as a team and squad and we haven’t been at the races. It was about getting back to basics but we did show bits of quality to create a couple of chances.”