NOT GOOD ENOUGH
Vale boss Askey demands improvement after poor display against Carlisle
JOHN Askey says his Port Vale team have to play ‘a hell of a lot better’ than their current league form after they were beaten 1-0 at home by Carlisle United.
Askey’s side take on pre-season promotion favourites Salford City at Vale Park on Saturday and know they need to improve after failing to score for the third successive League Two game.
The manager made six changes to the side beaten 1-0 at Morecambe in the last league outing as he gave a chance to players who impressed in Tuesday’s 3-1 win at Wigan Athletic in the EFL Trophy.
But Vale produced their worst performance of the season as Jon Mellish’s 55th-minute winner left them in 10th place.
Askey said: “We’ve had one or two chances, but we didn’t play well enough, it is as simple as that. It just wasn’t enough.
“To a man we just weren’t good enough. It was virtually the same side that played on Tuesday. It wasn’t that many changes, but you wouldn’t think it was virtually the same side.”
Vale started the season with seven points from nine, to earn Askey a nomination for the League Two manager of the month award
for September, but they have stumbled with this defeat and last week’s 1-0 loss at Morecambe.
Devante Rodney sent a free header wide in the first half and Tom Pope had his 51st-minute penalty saved after David Worrall was brought down in the area.
But once Mellish had given the visitors the lead, Vale didn’t look like getting back into the game.
Askey was clearly frustrated with the performance, but said he will do most of his talking to the players on Monday after having a chance to dissect the game.
Asked what he had said to the players, he said: “I don’t say too much when they have won and played really well, and the same when we have lost. I think the time to reflect is probably on Monday when they go into training.
“If you go in blazing you can say too much and lose people.
“We have to be better than that. I have to look at myself, we have to look at the team we put out, and we expect more.”
The manager wants more quality on the ball from his side.
He said: “We didn’t keep the ball well enough and we didn’t win enough second ball. That is not something you could say that many times last season, so we have to get back to how we were.
“What has gone has gone. It is this season that matters now and we have to do a hell of a lot better than we are doing.”
Striker Mark Cullen will be assessed today after missing the game with a calf injury.
Askey stuck with Tom Pope and Theo Robinson as a strike partnership after they did well in the Trophy win at Wigan.
Mitch Clark also started after rejoining on loan from Leicester.