TOOTHLESS VALE GIVE
PORT Vale shouldn’t have lost this game but, as John Askey reflected, that is the risk you take when you don’t create chances.
Vale didn’t do enough to win it but neither, it seemed, had Morecambe before Cole Stockton went down in the area on 76 minutes, referee Bobby Madley pointed to the spot and Adam Phillips scored as a game that hadn’t deserved a goal suddenly found one.
This was a marshmallow soft penalty, awarded for contact behind by Shaun Brisley that wouldn’t have a referee raising an eyebrow, never mind his whistle, on most other days.
But it was encouraging that Askey didn’t devote his post-match interview to bemoaning that decision or berating the ref. That was out of his control and would have ignored Vale’s real problem that for the last two games they have barely made an opportunity.
Let’s put this into context. The Vale are fifth in the table after four games and that was the first goal they have conceded.
But they have to be concerned they didn’t create chances in the goalless draw at home to a hard-working, direct Harrogate side, and they couldn’t do it against a Morecambe side who were content to let Vale have
possession and get men behind the ball.
This was the Shrimps third win in four league games but their previous victories had come away – 2-1 wins at Cheltenham and Southend.
They had been hammered 5-0 at home to Cambridge in the league and 7-0 by Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup and so seemed to have decided the main priority was a clean sheet
and then take it from there.
Vale had 74 per cent of possession in the first half but could do little with it faced with the banks of red in front of them. They tried to play their way through but were given no encouragement by their hosts.
Morecambe boss Derek Adams said: “We’re obviously delighted with the performance. The game
plan was to stop (Luke) Joyce getting on the ball and that’s what we did. We stopped them having any real pressure and allowed their two centre-halves to get on the ball. We knew then we would win the ball back. We were very compact and that allowed us to play on the counter-attack.
“As we keep on saying, possession doesn’t win you football matches, goals do,
and we allowed Port Vale to have possession inside their own half.
“I couldn’t care less about teams having possession in their own half, people will know that, it’s all about getting that three points.”
The closest Vale came was in the first half, first when a corner was half cleared but Leon Legge stayed up, was picked out by James Gibbons’ long ball but