Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
JOE: WE’RE NOT ORDINARY
Worrall: Best dressing room I’ve known and it shows on the pitch
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BY JOHN WRAGG
DAVE WORRALL has never stepped higher than League One football in his 15 years in the game.
The midfielder knows about football in the dungeons of the game and in his 11 seasons in League Two, won promotion three times.
So Port Vale’s failure to win live on the telly, ending a run of seven successive home victories, isn’t a worry.
“A few seasons ago here we would have been beaten,” said Worrall. “But this is a new team, a new mentality around the whole place and it shows on the pitch. This is the best dressing room I have been in.
“Everyone actually gets on. This changing room is totally different from any club I’ve been at.
“We all push each other, we want the best from each other, and we will keep doing that until the end of the season and see what the outcome is.”
Vale, rejuvenated off the field through the ownership of chairman Carol Shanahan, her husband Kevin, and on the field through manager Darrell Clarke, were top of League Two for 18 minutes.
Bradford keeper Richard O’donnell, who made two blinding saves earlier, stopped top scorer James Wilson in the 56th minute as well, but the striker regained control and put the ball home. Bantams sub Lee Angol equalised with a header from Matthew Foulds cross and Bradford got a deserved point.
Worrall has had promotions out of League Two with Bury, Southend and Millwall and knows how to ride the disappointments.
Vale had scored 14 goals in their previous three games but were neither fluent nor totally dominant here.
“It was a battle,” said Worrall.
“Players came off injured, little battle scars, cuts on legs, We held our own. After all the fluent football recently we showed we could do that side of it as well.”
Bradford are unbeaten against five of the promotion contenders, Exeter, Swindon, Newport, Forest Green and Vale.
The also drew with Exeter in the FA Cup, who they face in a replay tomorrow.
It shows boss Derek Adams has the makings of a team capable of rising from midtable.
Saturday’s home game with fourth-placed Northampton will give him more insight to what his team could achieve.
“Our record against the top sides shows what kind of team we have got,” predicted Adams.
“We’ve got players back now and the strength of our bench on Saturday shows what we’ve got available.”