Curle pleased with his first point
OLDHAM head coach Keith Curle was pleased with his side’s mentality following their goalless draw at Port Vale last night.
The new Latics boss took charge of his first game since replacing Harry Kewell on Monday and saw his side fight for a point.
“We knew what type of game to expect and we needed to be able to withstand the physical challenge,” he said. “A lot of that is the mentality you go into about defending and that was pleasing.
“We invited pressure but sometimes you have to be prepared to deal with that and then when you find out your players can deal with that, that’s your foundation to build on.”
Port Vale registered the first chance when David Worrall skipped into the penalty area to find Kurtis Guthrie but he missed from a few yards out.
They had arguably the best chance to open the scoring in the final minute of the half when Tom Conlon fired low against the near post. It took until first-half added time for Latics to register a first chance on goal, as Dylan Bahamboula cut back to Conor McAleny in the area but he skied over the bar.
Ian Lawlor was called into action at the other end as Vale piled on the pressure after the break to produce two vital saves from Conlon, firstly on 77 minutes and then deep into added time to earn his side a point.
“I thought our willingness to defend our goal was pleasing, some of the retention could get better,” Curle added.“There’s a lot of room for improvement but I think the application for the players was good.
Meanwhile, Salford City are four points off the League Two play-off spots as they lost 1-0 at Crawley Town. Rochdale stay rooted to the bottom of League One after a 2-0 home defeat by Shrewsbury.