Striker speaks to the press after the Vale’s 3-2 defeat at Shrewsbury Town.

• Jamie Proctor | “Everyone has to step up”
• Striker scored his first goal of the season in defeat in Shropshire
• Proctor: “Every single one of us has got to step up and contribute in our own little way, whether that’s for the majority of the season for me, when I’ve not been playing, whether you’re on the bench, whether you’re in the stand, whether you’re injured. Whatever it may be, you have to contribute in some way.”

Port Vale striker Jamie Proctor said the Vale’s players only had themselves to blame as Shrewsbury Town came out on the better of a five-goal clash in League One on Saturday.

The 30-year-old was a half-time substitute for Darrell Clarke’s side after Dennis Politic’s opener for the Vale was cancelled out by three Shrewsbury goals from set-pieces.

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

“We’ve only got ourselves to blame, we spoke all week about set pieces, and the number of goals they have scored over the past few weeks from set-pieces.

“We start the game so well, score a great goal, looked comfortable and our shape was working well.

“Three set-pieces just takes the game away from us; we can do all we can in the second half to give it a go, but you concede three goals like that, it’s just uphill from the start.

“I think that’s the most frustrating part, we bang on all the time about how much work the staff do, and how much work the lads do on the training ground on the opposition.

“We go into every single game knowing exactly how the opposition are going to play, we know what their strengths and weaknesses are, and we knew that today.

“When you get beat by information you know, that’s the toughest thing to take, I think.

“If we had been beaten today by three wonder goals you hold your hands up, but we haven’t, we knew exactly what was coming, we got it and paid the price for it.”

Proctor scored his first goal in 10 months after missing the majority of this campaign through injury, though the striker said he’d have preferred three points over a return to the scoresheet.

“It doesn’t matter about personal achievements, and you can ask all the lads, they’ll say the same thing,” he added. “I’d have rather stayed on the bench today and we’d have won 3-0, climb that table, and get back to the way we were, but when you’ve got to come on, you do the best you can, and I’d like to think I did that.

“But It wasn’t enough in the end, so not good enough.”

The striker called for a collective effort to end what has been a rare winless run for the Vale in the past two years.

“I think everybody’s got to step up,” Proctor continued. “Every single one of us has got to step up and contribute in our own little way, whether that’s for the majority of the season for me, where I’ve not been playing, whether you’re on the bench, whether you’re in the stand, whether you’re injured. Whatever it may be, you have to contribute in some way.

“At the minute, no one’s been good enough, we all need to improve no matter who plays each week, the team changes and we still aren’t getting the results.

“We all say it, you’ve got to look at yourself first and foremost, and certainly that’s what I’ll do.”

On how the Vale will go about changing their fortunes, he finished:

“It’s just back to basics. Do your job, concentrate on yourself, don’t worry about everyone else, look yourself in the mirror and say, ‘I’m going to do all I can today’.

“If 11 of us on the pitch, 18 in the squad, do that, ultimately you will come out on the right end of the result.

“It’s fine margins, and hopefully it will turn for us soon, we just have to keep putting in the work.”