‘BOTH TEAMS HUFFED AND PUFFED, THE GAME REALLY FIZZLED OUT...’
PORT Vale’s relegation season ended with an afternoon doze as they played out a goalless draw with Cambridge at Vale Park. The game lacked intensity with Vale already relegated and Cambridge knowing a point would keep them up, even before results elsewhere began to go their way. Vale created second-half chances for Uche Ikpeazu and Alex Iacovitti but there wasn’t much to get excited about with focus already on the summer and the rebuilding job for manager Darren Moore as he prepares for League Two. Moore said: “I thought it was a performance where both teams huffed and puffed and then, when it got in and around the 18-yard box, it sort of fizzled out.
“The best chance of the game for us was in the second half when we just failed to get the contact on the header from a cross.
“It’s a clean sheet, a step forward for us because there haven’t been too many of those this season. We take that as something to build on for the start of next season. “We know what the mistakes were this season and will look to put as many of those wrongs right. “When we look back and analyse it, the red flags are there. We conceded too many goals and didn’t score enough. I think that is there for all to see.” Cambridge knew they needed a point to be sure of safety in case other results went against them. So, it was job done for them and manager Garry Monk who was appointed at the start of March with them 19th in the table, four points above the relegation zone and on a run of four straight defeats.
This point took them to an 18thplaced finish as they went above Shrewsbury.
Monk said: “I am delighted for the club and everyone involved. The club deserves to be on an upward trajectory with the way it’s run. When I came in, with 11 games to go, the remit was to keep us in this league because the exciting bit is what the future could look like. “The approach today wasn’t to rely on the others (other results) and we have got what we deserved. It wasn’t the prettiest of games but we did what we needed to.”