Vale on the front foot to put crucial points on the board

PORT Vale headed into the business end of the League Two campaign with a much-needed win. CLIVE YOULTON continues his review of the Valiants’ season...

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PORT Vale striker Jayden Stockley expressed his intention to nail his spot in the club’s folklore.

“There's 11 games to go and we must all look at it from a collective, that we want to do something really special,” said Stockley after returning to the team as a substitute at Colchester United.

With a home clash with MK Dons to come, he told the club: “That's what I've got in my mind that I’m going to do in these last 11 games and hopefully I can back it up on the pitch.”

He certainly played his part in helping the club achieve promotion.

But at the same time, BBC Radio Stoke commentator Phil Bowers reckoned that boss Darren Moore's determination not to lose games meant his team had to compromise on scoring goals.

“I think the way they set up is very rigid,” said Bowers. “From speaking to him [Moore] it is quite clear he does want them to be a lot more attacking than they are but where the drawback comes is he sets his teams up being so difficult to beat. And I think being at this level, when you get such a rigid way of playing, sometimes it can mean players aren't keen on taking a risk. Because it has been drilled into them so much about keeping their shape.