Clarke blasts his winning Saddlers!
WALSALL boss Darrell Clarke slammed his side’s performance – despite inflicting Port Vale’s first home league defeat this term.
The struggling Saddlers extended their five-year unbeaten run at Vale Park with Elijah Adebayo’s third goal of the season.
But Clarke was less than impressed with how his players used the ball.
“Effort, endeavour and desire from my players was 10 out of 10 today,” admitted Clarke.
“But, the performance with the ball was one of out 10.
“I’ve got to be pleased, but, the same as I told my players, I like to give an honest assessment for the game.
“The back four were outstanding, but we’ve got to be better with the ball.
“That’s the one frustration for me.
“We’ve got to get better, we know that and my players know that.We’ve got to try and improve every day. It wasn’t a great performance.
“We gave the ball away so many times. My demands are high and we’ve got to get better.”
Jake Taylor squandered a decent chance when he nodded Callum
Evans’ cross wide. Just before the break, Cristian Montano’s deflected strike flew just wide as the hosts started to pile on the pressure.
But it was the struggling Saddlers who broke the deadlock seconds after the restart. Wes McDonald did well to deliver a teasing ball across the face of goal with Adebayo on hand to tap home from close range.
Just before the hour, Smith tamely headed wide from a good position. And he failed to divert a header goal-wards after powering Tom Conlon’s corner over at the back post.
With 10 minutes left Leon Legge was inches away from grabbing an equaliser when he saw his effort from Conlon’s corner hit a post.
Conlon was then sent off for an apparent elbow on Josh Gordon.
Vale boss John Askey said: “We didn’t play well enough. We’ve got to be better. We missed a great chance of getting three points.
“There’s no excuses. On the day we just haven’t performed.
“It’s so frustrating because that’s the loudest I’ve heard the crowd. The atmosphere was amazing. It was like coming back to the old Vale.”