Vale concentrate on defensive duties
After what turned out to be Vale’s heaviest defeat of the season so far, Vale Assistant Manager Mark Grew said all the work done in training this week will be aimed at tightening things up at the back.
Conceding five goals like that will give them something to think about and they will be keen to close the door in future games.
Mark said: “We were concerned about it, that is for sure. Individual and collectively we didn’t do what we were told to do on Saturday.
“There were too many times when people were in the wrong positions and effectively it cost us goals.
“This week there will be a lot of work done on defending from set-pieces and from outfield play and that is what we have done all today, defensive work.
“The first thing the manager said after the game was ‘you have left the door wide open for other players to come into the side’, so take that as you may, he’s done it before and I am sure he will do it again.
“He will look at what they do in training this week and there is a reserve team game away to Walsall on Wednesday so that will come into his thinking.
“We will have reports o our defensive players in that match and there are a lot of things to get into your head.
“We are taking the match against Shortwood United seriously, the gaffer watched them against Aldershot and George Foster watched them play Evesham on Saturday. We are taking this game as serious as any other game.”
Although Chris Neal conceded five goals, he certainly hasn’t been singled out for any blame having been one of Vale’s most consistent performers since joining the club from Shrewsbury Town in the summer of 2012.
Grew said: “Chris doesn’t like letting in one goal, let alone five. As a ‘keeper clean sheets are your priority and it wasn’t one of Chris’s better games on Saturday.
“He’s made some good saves but I think he would be the first one to admit it wasn’t one of his better games.
“He knows Sam Johnson is waiting in the wings to take his place, but don’t lets pull it out of context, it wasn’t one of his better games but it wasn’t an horrendous performance either.
“He made three or four really excellent saves but we felt he should have come and punched for the first goal and then there was a bad throw out that slipped out of his hands that was supposed to have gone to Yatesy.
“Chris is a man when it comes to taking responsibility for things he has not done in a game and he will work as hard as anybody else this week .”