Defender praises new team mates
Defender Darren purse believes that if the lads continue to work as hard for each other as they did at the Priestfield Stadium on Saturday then they have a great chance of achieving their aims this season.
Speaking after the win against Gillingham, the defender praised the work ethic of his team mates in training, but was a little critical of his own display as Vale took over top spot in League Two.
He said: “It’s a great feeling coming away from home - backs to the wall at times - and you come away with a result, but there’s still a long way to go. We can’t get carried away with it, we’re top of the league but it’s all about staying there.
“It was my fault for Gillingham’s goal. It’s about being harsh on yourself and I should have won the first header but I didn’t.
“You can win every single header you want in a game, but if you miss the one that matters then that’s what happens, but winning the game 2-1 was a fantastic result for the boys and we thoroughly deserved it.
“It was backs to the wall stuff at times, but when you have got lads like we have who really roll their sleeves up for each other and really want to win for each other then you can go anywhere.
“I have only been at the club for a week, but you look at the training that we are doing and the technical ability of the players and how they work in training it’s fantastic.
“You can see from the way that we train how we manage to get results like we did at Gillingham and we need just to continue to do that.
“The confidence is definitely around the place and it about trying to keep on top for as long as we can now.”
The players will now forget all about last weekend’s victory and concentrate on getting it right this weekend when Bradford City are the visitors to Vale Park.
Purse said: “You can tell when we walk out onto the pitch that everybody is pulling in the right direction and rally wants to do well for the football club and that is all you can ask for when you cross that white line on a Saturday afternoon.
“Everybody has been saying that the home form is a bit hit and miss at the minute, but if we can get that sorted it will send us a long way towards getting promoted this year and that’s what everybody wants.
“We’ve got another big game on Saturday and we have got to prepare right for it and if we put in a shift like we did at Gillingham there’s every chance we can go and win that one, but it’s not going to come without working hard for each other.”