Clarke hails Vale players as superb form continues
DARRELL Clarke says his Port Vale side can start looking up the League Two table rather than down after they moved 12 points clear of the relegation zone with a 1-0 win at home to Exeter City.
Theo Robinson’s strike inside two minutes separated the sides and clinched the Vale’s fourth league win on the spin.
That moved them up two places to 16th, and left Clarke reflecting on a superb run.
He said: “I am really pleased for the football club and for the players and the fans.
“It has been a hell of a reaction hasn’t it, in the last four games to get those four wins, and now we can seriously start looking up the table I think.
“The boys once again have given me absolutely everything, against a decent Exeter team, and we have a fantastic clean sheet as well. I think we limited them to one shot on target which is great defensive work for the whole eleven.”
Vale came close to a second through Devante Rodney as they had the better of the game against an Exeter side who are just a point outside the play-off places.
Clarke said: “We were probably a little bit guilty of not being clinical enough in the final pass and the final opportunity. But their keeper has pulled off a worldie save and, with a little bit of a rub of the green, we maybe get the second goal.
“But they have always asked us questions. They have asked us loads of questions, different shapes, different personnel coming on for Exeter - and the boys have come up with the answers.”
The win sets Vale up for Monday’s trip to Harrogate who are 15th after a goalless draw at Walsall.
The Exeter game was preceded by a minute’s silence in memory of former Vale player Lee Collins following his death, aged 32.
Collins spent four years at Vale after initially signing on loan from Wolves in 2008. He would make 163 appearances before he was sold by the administrators to Championship club Barnsley in 2012.
He won the Vale players’ player award , in 2010, and was voted in the club’s team of the decade by fans in a poll in 2020.
He would have further spells at Shrewsbury, Northampton, Mansfield and Forest Green before joining Yeovil in the summer of 2019.
Clarke, pictured, said: “I touched on it before the game. Our condolences go out to his family. I have come up against Lee as a manager. I said, just make sure we put on a performance that replicates what he was about. He was a winner and I am pleased my lads have been able to do that.
“So, we dedicate that to his family.”