Hard work is the key, says striker
Striker Tom Pope is looking forward to Friday’s home game against Cheltenham Town, but he knows Vale face a tough task if they are to come out of the game with maximum points.
The League Two Player of the Year said: “They are a big strong side and I think that anybody who went to Cheltenham earlier on in the season to watch the game will have seen what they are about.
“We came away with a point from a game which was pretty much a game of two halves really. They had the better of the first half and we had the better of the second half.
“They had a couple of late chances to get a goal. I think Chris Shuker kicked a couple off the line that day, but no game in this league is easy.
“You have got to be at your best and work as hard as you possibly can to get anything. We have probably played better than we did at York two weeks ago and lost.
“We have played a lot better and lost games and we have played a lot worse and won, it is about grafting. At York we all got stuck in and that’s something we have got to do.
“Teams are going to make it difficult for us. They are going to put bodies behind the ball and we are going to have to be patient and keep knocking at the door.
“What we haven’t got to do is keep going gung-ho and looking for early goals and end up conceding one and giving teams the incentive to sit back and smother us out of the game.
“York was a big bridge-builder for us, we looked very threatening going forward and created a lot of chances and we never looked like conceding at the back – the back four were solid and when they were beaten, Chris Neal made a couple of great saves.”