ASKEY PLENTY TO PONDER
headed too close to the keeper. The only Vale player who looked like beating his man was Devante Rodney, as he did for their only other chance of the half when he collected Dave Worrall’s inch-perfect crossfield pass, left the defender standing with his first touch and raced into the area only to have his shot blocked.
Morecambe went close with their only chance of the half when a short corner was worked to Stockton to fire just wide at the near post.
The home side were a little more enterprising in the second half and looked like taking the lead just after the restart when they broke down the left before Aaron Wildig played the ball across to Phillips who was on the right of the area. There was nothing wrong with his shot, but pretty good isn’t good enough to beat Scott Brown who flipped the ball over for a fine save fitting of his 500th career appearance.
Unfortunately the rest of the team performance wasn’t. Vale arguably were the more likely to win it because they were doing most of the pressing but there wasn’t much inspiration about their play.
So, after Madley’s penalty decision denied Vale a fourth successive clean sheet, they didn’t look like salvaging a point. The manager had brought on Theo Robinson for Mark Cullen after 61 minutes, then sent on David Amoo for Rodney moments after the goal.
Having tried and failed to play their way through, they went route one in the closing
stages as Leon Legge was pushed up front, but even then Askey was exasperated with his side as they missed opportunities to pump the ball into the area.
He wants his team working harder in the final third, making more runs and moving the ball more quickly to find ways through defences like Morecambe and Harrogate’s.
He might also consider selection and a number of players will get the chance to press their case for a place in the league side when Vale are away to Wigan in the EFL
Trophy on Tuesday. Danny Whitehead, Theo Robinson, David Amoo, Tom Pope and Cristian Montano could all get game-time although it remains to be seen whether the game will be too soon for Manny Oyeleke and Harry Mckirdy after both were left out of the squad at Morecambe as a precaution after picking up slight muscle strains.
This first defeat in 12 league games does not constitute a crisis but there is plenty for the manager to think about for Saturday’s league game at home to Carlisle.