VALE FANS GET BROWN’S HEAD
PORT Vale ended a run of six league games without a win to pick up their first home point of the season, but that was still not enough to save manager Michael Brown.
Angry Valiants fans made their views on the final whistle perfectly clear, and Brown was sacked shortly afterwards.
And while Brown admitted he understood the fans frustrations, he initally remained confident he could turn things around – showing no inkling of what was to come.
“We’ve had meetings this week and we’re working very hard to get results,” he said.
“We have regular meetings, myself and the chairman. We go through everything and we’re working very hard to put it right. We understand the frustration. The fans got behind the players in the first half.
“I think it set us back a bit when they had the ball in the second half for a small period; it made the players slightly edgy, which put us on the back foot.
“We believe that we’ve got enough in that dressing room to get results. The league table doesn’t lie. We’ve not got the points that we’ve needed.
“It’s not always the true picture though, with the difficulties we’ve had. We lost Tyrone Barnett today, which was frustrating.”
Dan Turner gave Vale a firsthalf lead but they could not hold on as substitute Omar Bugiel levelled midway through the second period.
The opening goal came on 19 minutes. Tom Pope drove towards the Forest Green box and slid the ball across to Turner, who expertly slotted past Bradley Collins for his third goal of the season.
Both sides began the match 92nd and 91st in the EFL, and it showed throughout as there was little quality.
But Rovers drew level in the 68th minute when Bugiel headed in just seconds after coming on for Will Randall.
Forest Green then almost took the lead 11 minutes later when Liam Noble’s curling freekick was just inches away from bending into the top corner.
Rovers boss Mark Cooper felt his team could have won it, but was pleased with the impact of his substitutes.
“When you make substitutions, you want them to make an impression; all three did today and that’s what you’ve got to do,” he said.
“We possibly could have won in the end. There wasn’t a lot in the game first half - a silly mistake from our defenders again - so I decided to change drastically at half-time, which gave us a bit of impetus. “We were on the front foot second half and with a little bit more care, we could have won the game. It’s a start for us but we have to maintain that commitment we showed for a few periods today and stop making silly mistakes.”