‘I AM EMBARRASSED. THAT DISPLAY WAS NOT ACCEPTABLE’

PORT Vale manager Darrell Clarke says he is embarrassed by his team’s performance in their 1-0 defeat at home to Walsall.

Vale lost back-to-back league games for the first time this season but, whereas they created enough to have won in their 3-2 defeat at Oldham on Saturday, they produced their worst performance of the season on Tuesday as Brendan Kiernan’s 29th -minute strike gave the Saddlers the points in front of 1,500 travelling supporters.

Clarke, who left Walsall to take the Vale job in February, was taunted by those travelling fans throughout but was more concerned with his own team and their performance.

He said: “I will mind my language but I am embarrassed, my players should be embarrassed, my staff should be embarrassed for putting on a performance like that.

“We were poor, we were bullied, we were rubbish with the ball.

“It is not acceptable. It is one of those nights and we have to take our medicine but also the players know that isn’t acceptable.

“We will look at what went wrong and why it went wrong, we will analyse it as we always do but they certainly aren’t having the day off on that.

“I will accept a lot of things from my teams, over the years I have managed a lot of games now, but I won’t accept that sort of performance – ever.

“My players need to know that and then we need to respond.

“They are very aware of it. We never got going all night, it is as simple as that so we can pick the bones out of the game but we never got going.

“It is by far the biggest disappointment of the season so far. We were a million miles off.”

Vale dropped two places to fifth and, asked what frustrated him most about the performance, the manager said: “Everything about it. Bullied, weak, making angles, passing, quality, you name it, none of it was there tonight from what we have shown from the season so far.

“But I am not one of those managers that say we have done all right so this is a one off. No. We will put it right.”

The Vale return to action on Saturday, at home to Hartlepool United, when Clarke will be looking for a vast improvement from his players.

He said: “I am pretty straight down the line and I will say it how it is.

“On Saturday, I thought we played terrifically but unfortunate, didn’t defend our box.

“Tonight was absolutely woeful and we have to react to that.

“One or two went missing and I need to know why. One or two certainly weren’t up for the fight and I need to know why. I will find out why.

“Players quickly fall by the wayside with me because I don’t accept it. I don’t accept we have been on a good run and played some great football, but then give that.

“I don’t accept that. I accept levels, certain levels to be hit in every single football match. Today, we were nowhere near those levels.”