We played tippy-tappy football – Port Vale boss on their Football League Trophy draw
Port Vale manager John Askey says the side were at fault for playing “tippy-tappy” football as their Football League Trophy game against Mansfield Town ended in a 2-2 draw on Tuesday evening.
Vale twice took a 2-1 second-half lead thanks to goals from Rhys Browne and the prolific Jake Taylor only for Omari Sterling-James to equalise at the death.
The match ended 2-2 in normal time, but fortunately the Valiants comfortably won a penalty shootout 4-2 to progress to the next stage of the competition and bank £20,000 in prize money.
There was a lot of good performances, we made seven changes and we still managed to get a win…
Speaking after the game, Askey told the official Port Vale website: “In the first-half we should have been two or three goals up, we played really well and we knew second-half that they would come and close us down but we didn’t take heed, started playing tippy-tappy football and got lulled into a false sense of security and they benefited from that.
“Then we went through a spell and what was really pleasing is how we got through it again, going a goal down to come back and get two was really pleasing. There was a lot of good performances, we made seven changes and we still managed to get a win. You want to keep the winning mentality going, and it’s difficult for the lads coming in who haven’t played regular football, but I thought every single one of them played well, even the ones playing out of position.
“Disappointing that we didn’t see the game out at 2-1, but the lads stepped up to the penalties and looked confident, and Browny is the keeper you want at this level to save them. Browny does a lot of work with Ronnie , and Dan the analyst, it doesn’t just happen, they watch what players do on penalties and it pays dividends tonight.”