DUFF HAPPY DESPITE THE LOST POINTS
MICHAEL Duff was full of praise for his players’ character – even though his Cheltenham side’s draw at Port Vale saw them drop out of the automatic promotion places.
Alex Addai gave the Robins a 24th-minute lead before Vale equalised 15 minutes later when captain Ben Tozer turned the ball into his own net.
Manager Duff said: “It was slightly frustrating that we could not get the second goal, but it wasn’t a case of coming away from home and being pleased with a point because we wanted to try and win the game.
“It is sign of how far we have come that we are disappointed with the draw and that we have fallen to fourth place.
“I thought we grew into the game after a slow start and we cut through Port Vale a number of times.
“It is where we are at the moment as in being resilient and hard to beat, but just not quite doing enough.
“We did everything we could to try and win the game and I even turned to (Port Vale boss) John Askey five minutes from full-time and told him there’d be a winner, but I just wasn’t sure from which team.”
Both teams wasted a host of chances as Cheltenham slipped into fourth place, while Vale’s search for a first league win since mid-November continued.
Scott Burgess had just missed a golden opportunity to put Vale in front when Addai received Jake Doyle-Hayes’ ball on the edge of the box and drove it into the far corner past keeper Scott Brown.
The forward nearly doubled his tally when he was fed in by Max Sheaf and launched a thunderbolt which ex-Cheltenham stopper Brown brilliantly saved.
The Valiants equalised in the 39th minute when David Amoo sent the ball across the face of goal only for Tozer to divert it past team-mate Scott Flinders.
Vale dominated the second half and twice should have taken the lead, but were thwarted by two fine saves from Flinders, while Addai’s effort was parried by Brown.
Speaking afterwards, Askey said: “It was a really good performance, so I am disappointed that we have not come away with the three points. “There are one or two things we need to improve on, but we played more like we were doing at the start of the season. “I wasn’t happy with Cheltenham’s goal because it was offside and I am disappointed the officials didn’t see that.
“We responded well, as we tend to when we go a goal behind. “The supporters have seen a decent game, but will also be disappointed that we didn’t get three points.
“I think we have shown, throughout the season, we can compete against anybody. The thing is, we tend to play well against the top teams.”