Brown’s bold boys can beat the drop
CARETAKER boss Michael Brown insisted his relegation-threatened Valiants can escape the drop after they were held at home by Bristol Rovers.
A second-half own goal from Rovers left-back Bob Harris gave Port Vale the lead before Rovers midfielder Billy Bodin levelled up the contest.
Brown, who saw his team drop into the bottom four after Bury beat Chesterfield, said: “We have got the confidence (to climb out of the relegation zone).
“The players showed the spirit and the belief and I thought we were going to go on and get three points, and I think probably everybody did in the stadium.”
Brown insisted his team were already in a relegation battle before Saturday’s draw.
He added: “I think we have to look at ourselves.
“We’ve set our targets for what we need to do and where we need to get wins from and that’s not going to change.”
Rovers boss Darrell Clarke expressed disappointment over a flat display that leaves his side four points off the play-off places.
He said: “I’m not papering over the cracks – that wasn’t good enough for me.
“Yes, there was a response after they scored, but the response should be a lot earlier than that. We looked lacklustre from the first minute up until the last 20 minutes, where we’ve come into the game with a great strike from Bodin.”
Early on, Rovers striker Ellis Harrison just failed to connect with a cross from teammate Rory Gaffney after Valiants stopper Leonardo Fasan’s misplaced pass put the home team under pressure.
With both sides struggling to establish any kind of dominance, Rovers midfielder Chris Lines fired narrowly wide of Fasan’s right-hand post, before Valiants winger Jerome Thomas saw a cross-cumshot drift over goalkeeper Joe Lumley’s crossbar.
Just before half-time Valiants left-back Francisco Rosa fired a free-kick from the edge of the box into the Rovers wall, before seeing another set play land on the roof of Lumley’s net.
Three minutes after the restart Lines fired narrowly wide from a difficult angle on the left side of box, before Harris turned Rosa’s cross into his own net for the opener.
Though the Valiants rarely looked in danger of surrendering their lead, Bodin popped up on the right side of the box to grab a share of the points for Rovers with his effort from 25 yards.