ARDLEY: WE MUST KEEP SCRAPPING
NEAL Ardley took the positives from an anxious afternoon, despite watching his Notts County side fire blanks in their goalless draw with Port Vale.
Bottom of the table County remain five points adrift of Vale in 22nd, but Ardley believes a point is a good result for his struggling side.
And the Notts County manager said he could sense a different atmosphere in the stands with his side playing one of the sides around them, compared with when they played the top teams.
“We need some draws in the list of results we need,” he said.
“People will look at this and think this is a home fixture and one we need to get a win from. But we’ve already shown we can go to teams at the top and win and it’s the same at home.
“These games at home when there is so much riding on it are tough. There was anxiety in the stadium.
“We battled and scrapped. Make no mistake, that was a game we would have lost two months ago.”
After a quiet opening, Virgil Gomis saw a fierce drive clear the bar, before Rob
Milsom saw a shot saved by Scott Brown as Ardley’s side looked for a breakthrough.
But Vale started to ask questions of the Notts defence themselves and Tom Pope had a goal disallowed for offside after Ryan Schofield had produced an outstanding save from David Worrall.
The Notts goalkeeper then flung himself to his left to deny Tom Conlon’s free-kick from finding the top corner as anxiety grew among the home fans.
Vale’s chief threat was Pope and he was close to giving the visitors the lead after the break when he headed over a Luke Hannant cross. He was then was guilty of heading
another chance over the bar, before Schofield had to be alert to tip a Luke Joyce strike over the bar.
Notts fought back as fulltime approached with Mitch Rose driving a low cross right through the six-yard box.
Vale manager John Askey believes luck is not going their way.
He said: “At the moment it’s just not dropping for us in front of goal, but I was really pleased with the performance and the effort.
“That’s what we have to do from now until the end of the season. They worked their socks off. It gave everybody
a lift, the supporters and everybody involved with the football club. “I was disappointing not to get the three points in the end, but it wasn’t through the lack of trying. “The players showed they wanted to stay up. I’ve been trying to get legs in the team that can last the 90. The fitness is getting better. Ours was far better than theirs.”
NOTTS COUNTY: Schofield 8, Rose 7, Barclay 6, Stubbs 6, Milsom 7, Mackail-Smith 6 (Alessandra 76, 6), Doyle 6, O’Brien 6, Boldewijn 7, Stead 6, Gomis 7 (Hemmings 70, 6). Subs not used: Fitzsimons, Tootle, Bird, Vaughan, Patching. PORT VALE: Brown 8, Clark 6, Legge 8, Smith 6, Crookes 6, Oyeleke 6, Joyce 6, Worrall 7, Conlon 7, Pope 8, Hannant 7 (Whitfield 81, 6). Subs not used: Gibbons, Montano, Kay, Miller, Hornby, Howkins.