'Lots of positives' after a narrow loss to last season's champions

DARREN Moore reckoned there were “lots of positives” to come from Port Vale’s 2-0 home defeat to Birmingham City.

- Clive Youlton

The Valiants boss leads his team into just one more preseason friendly - at Altrincham tomorrow night - ahead of the League One opener at Rotherham on Saturday.

As for the City match, Moore was happy with the day’s work.

“First and foremost I want to thank Chris [Davis, Birmingham manager] and his players for coming to give us an excellent workout,” he said.

“It was a game that was really split on decisions at the end of the day.

“There were a lot of positives to come out of the game and I was really pleased to get a good 90 minutes into a few of the players.

“And getting the level of minutes into the players that we needed at the end of preseason.”

He added: “It was great to be back at Vale Park and great to be back in front of our fans.

“It was a really strong Birmingham team that came and I was really pleased to see that. That makes it into a real match of intensity and tempo.

“Not only that, you get to feel the speed and power and precision that they possess. Huge congratulations to them for winning League One last season.

“There were lots of positives to take in terms of the level of opposition, but how we acquitted ourselves and the way we went about our work and the levels where we've come from to be ready to even compete and contest a game like that.

“We'll look back at the goals, obviously there was one indecisive moment that came from it, and the second one was late in the game.