Manager wants his side to make their performances against League One promotion-chasers to count for results, ahead of Saturday’s trip to Derby County.
- Darrell Clarke | “We want to keep progressing and turn performances into wins”
- Port Vale manager on Derby County, Paul Warne, the first quarter of the League One campaign and the Vale’s supporters
- Clarke: “I like to quarter the season up and after tomorrow we’ll be just over a quarter of the season gone and tomorrow will be a good assessment of where we are at, having played some of the top teams in the division.”
Port Vale manager Darrell Clarke says he wants to see his side converting their positive performances against League One high-flyers into results.
The Vale earned a point at Barnsley last month before suffering a 3-0 defeat at Peterborough United following a strong start to the game, most recently Clarke’s side lost out to Sheffield Wednesday last weekend following a wonder goal from Wales international Will Vaulks.
“I like to quarter the season up and after tomorrow we’ll be just over a quarter of the season gone and tomorrow will be a good assessment of where we are at, having played some of the top teams in the division,” Clarke explained.
“For me, it is about progression all the time, making sure that our second quarter is better than our first and we do that through looking at the statistics, through individual player meetings and making sure that we are thriving, improving, working hard at our game and hopefully we start beating some of the bigger teams in our league.
“We want to be winning football games, we want to be a winning team; we want to be competing and winning these games. The message to the players is that the performances have been good against one or two of the big teams but now we have to turn them into wins, so why not try and start at Derby!
“They have a new manager in Paul Warne, it is his first home game, there will be a great attendance, great away following so let’s see if we can do it tomorrow!”
The Vale will be backed by a sold out away following of 2,700 supporters at Pride Park, the club’s largest away following for a league game in nine years.
On the support his side are receiving, Clarke continued:
“It is amazing; the lads are very appreciative because we know how the fans pay their hard-earned money to come and support us, follow us, buy the shirts and I will always say that we are only custodians of the club. It is a supporters’ club; players and managers will come and go. It is my job and the players’ job when we are representing the shirt and the football club, that we do it in a professional manner.”
The Rams appointed Paul Warne as their new manager just over a fortnight ago and Clarke was full of respect for his opposite number on Saturday, who is looking for his fourth promotion from League One.
“He has already tweaked it and changed his formation - Paul will put his own stamp on things,” Clarke added. “He has had three promotions out of this level with a good backroom team, so he certainly knows how to get out of the level.”