DELIGHTED WITH POINT, BUT NOT PERFORMANCE, INSISTS ASPIN

port vale

PORT Vale boss Neil Aspin wants much better from his players after slamming their performance at Morecambe, even though they came from behind to earn a 2-2 draw. The Valiants fell behind to Ajay Leitch-smith, on 27 minutes, and Jason Oswell, on 40, and never looked like getting back into the game before Antony Kay beat the offside flag to score seven minutes from time. Tom Pope headed home substitute Scott Quigley’s cross to level on 87 minutes but Leitch-smith had his penalty saved by Scott Brown a minute later. Aspin was pleased with the point, but not impressed by the overall performance. He said: “I can describe it quite easily - I thought for 80 minutes we were terrible. We were abysmal in the first half and I didn’t think we were great in the second. “But when you get a goal back it changes things. The one bit of quality we did get was a great cross by ‘Quigs’ and great header by ‘Popey’. So, I am absolutely delighted with a point and very disappointed with the performance.” Vale went into the game after back-to-back wins over Yeovil and Stoke under-21s, but Aspin said this was a good lesson that they can’t afford to let their standards drop. He said: “You can go behind in any game, but what annoyed me was that you come to Morecambe in December, it is a gale force wind and rain...and you don’t compete. There is no excuse for that. I thought the players let themselves down in the first half. “It is a lesson really that they have to learn because they are not good enough to just turn up and not compete in matches. “We will take the point from a very poor performance.” The point lifted Vale a place to 15th, eight points off the play-off spots and 10 clear of the relegation zone. Aspin’s side are back in action on Saturday when they are at home to Cheltenham.