Michael Brown saw his Port Vale side lose a winning position and earn only a point for the second time in a week.
Vale had the bulk of possession and chances, but a wonder strike from Billy Bodin got Bristol Rovers back into a game that seemed to be getting away from them, after Bob Harris’ own goal gave Vale the lead.
Valiant manager Michael Brown spoke exclusively to Valiant PlayerHD after the game about the result: “It is a disappointing result. I thought that we certainly did enough to win the game. I think we were in control.
They’ve had a long range shot, maybe we could have done better with closing it down, but it is a worldie and of course we are disappointed.”
To rub salt into the wounds, Vale also lost on loan striker Tyler Walker to injury after coming on as substitution only minutes before: “Unfortunately we lost Tyler Walker with a serious knee injury, as they say when it rains it pours at the moment with the treatment room.”
The loss of Walker meant that Brown had to change his game plan slightly to adapt to the circumstances, which made the result harder than it needed to be. However, the 40-year old was pleased with his teams performance: “Yes it is difficult, but we had to make sure that we were not going to lose the game. It is a disappointment because the boys had put in a great shift especially with players coming back from injury and not having played for a long time.”
With the result, Vale dropped into the relegation zone as Bury won away Chesterfield to leap frog the Burslem club, but Brown is not fazed by the situation, and is aware of what is needed: “We just have to keep playing. I thought we were bright and attacking today and were trying to do the correct things but unfortunately the ball did not drop for us as we hoped.”
The midfielder feels hard done by from the officials, but was keen to praise his players further for their determined display: “There were some strange decisions as well, I thought that Bristol Rovers were fortunate not to have a red card which would have made a big difference. But all credit to the boys, they kept going until the end and we should have had the three points.”
Vale host high-flying Bradford City this coming weekend, a fixture that Brown predicts to be a tough one, but one he is looking forward to: “It is a great game to have, a home game against a top six team. It will be a difficult match because Bradford have a good squad and a good manager. We are looking forward to the game.”