Richie Bennett expressed the frustration felt amongst the Vale squad following yesterday’s 1-1 draw at home to Stevenage in a game clouded by controversy.
The striker discussed how officiating decisions throughout the game, such as a soft penalty given against the Vale and two penalty shouts of their own waved away, left the players feeling as though they should have come away with more from the match.
The players are not allowing themselves to be too down about the result however, as they were able to make it seven games unbeaten at home and get another point on the board, with all the squad staying positive.
The main disappointment comes from the feeling that they should be winning games like yesterday, which shows a positive change from last season and exhibits the direction the club is going in, with a squad that is full of confidence that continues to lay the foundations for a very successful season.
The team know how much potential they have and are aiming to build on that and bring joy to Vale Park, by continuing to strive for success and keep working hard to turn those draws into wins.
He said: “Very frustrating for ourselves and for the fans, I think we probably did enough and started bright which we wanted to do after the performance last week and went 1-0 up, very frustrating them decisions what the ref gave as a penalty… we take a point and we go again.
“We’re all disappointed because we think we should be beating teams like that, that’s what’s good about the team that we’re expecting to go out there and win and we’re believing in the confidence that we’ve got that we should beating them.
“We’ve got to build on that, we know that we’ve got a good team, got a good squad together, we’ve just got to keep going and keep looking to the next game and keep building on that what we’ve got and keep starting bright.”
That desire to turn more draws into wins, combined with the strong signs shown by the team’s start to the season has given Bennett and his teammates the feeling that they are in a good position and are on their way to being where they want to be.
The biggest issue in preventing that so far for the team has been little things such as referring decisions, goal-line blocks and last minute goals that have been preventing the side from getting the wins they feel they deserve.
The focus for now must turn to Tuesday’s away trip to Bradford according to Bennett, as they look to get back to their winning ways and pick up their first league away win of the season in the process, getting that monkey off the teams back and proving that they can climb the table and fight for promotion.
He said: “I think it’s been an ok start so far and there’s a lot more to come, especially with the squad that we’ve got and the ability and the confidence and the belief that we’ve got, we’ve got a good team and we all believe in each other and all our standards are high.
“We’re not far off, it’s just those 1%’s at the minute, on another day they don’t get a penalty and we win that game 1-0 and we forget about it and move on so that’s what we’ve got to do either way, we’ve got to look towards the game at Braford on Tuesday.
“It [Bradford] would be a great place to get our first away win, a big place, it’s a big club, so we’ve got something to go on and prove to everybody that our away form can get better, we know that and we’re the only ones that can change it.”