Defensive work the priority
Defender Richard Duffy says Vale must tighten up at the back if they are to continue to be a force in League Two and begin to think more about defending as a unit.
He said: “We have got to start keeping clean sheets. We have got to work defensively to start keeping clean sheets and keeping teams out and if we start doing that we will be fine.”
Vale have another tough encounter against Bradford City on Saturday – a side who have also started the season well and who have the same number of points as the Valiants.
Richard continued: “They are a big club and it is going to be another tough game. Any game you play in this division is going to be tough and if we are not on our game we will get turned over.
“We’ve had a few good away games and picked up some good results, so we’ll go there full of confidence, despite the poor result on Saturday.
“The pressure is on them to go out and win the game. We’ve got to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and go again.
“We don’t go out to play badly, we go out and try our best and if it doesn’t happen then it doesn’t happen, we have got to go again on Saturday and we are looking forward to it.”
Vale are again expecting to take a large number of travelling support with them this weekend and the players feel the fans can play their part at the Coral Windows Stadium.
He said: “We have had great support away as you could see at Fleetwood on a Tuesday night, we filled the away end and if it had been on a Saturday we would have taken even more.
“It shows what good away support we have and we’ll have a good following again on Saturday. When you can hear them shouting so loud it feels like a home game.