Vale succumbed to a sickening late defeat after Tyrone Barnett’s late strike meant Peterborough United left Vale Park with all three points.

The game was evenly poised for the majority of the match but the now second-placed SkyBet League 1 side grinded out a win.

Carl Dickinson was understandably gutted after losing so late-on.

He told Valiant Player: “I think you have just used the right words there, it is just a shame.

“I thought we played really well and dealt with what they had to offer most of the game.

“Just one mistake cost us massively.”

Despite being 0-0 for 85 minutes the game always looked more than a bore-draw as both teams traded counter-attacks throughout the game.

Dickinson believes a point would have suited both sides before Barnett’s late strike.

“We were in it but both teams weren’t creating that many clear-cut chances and I think if you’d have asked both teams at 80 minutes if it had been a draw both teams would have taken it.

“It’s just gutting to concede that late on,” Dickinson said.

Vale started brightly and Dickinson believes it was important the side put on a battling display after the shock defeat to Rochdale in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy on Tuesday.

He explained: “We wanted to do that, we needed to put that right immediately because Tuesday wasn’t good enough and if we had of played like that we would have had out backsides slapped today.”

“I thought we worked ever so hard across the pitch today from back to front, it’s just gutting that we haven’t got a point from it,” he said.

Dickinson was drafted into an unfamiliar left-midfield role which saw the versatile defender provide a defensive shield down Vale’s left wing.

“I really enjoyed it, the gaffer decided to put me in there yesterday, I think he just wanted me to and get in their faces and make tackles and give the ball to the players that can do the damage.”

“There were some things I needed to do better but overall I thought I had a decent game,” he added.