Five thoughts following Port Vale’s dramatic defeat to Tranmere Rovers
There’s only one place to start with the post-match analysis of the Tranmere Game – Rob Fielding shares his views…
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Rubbish refereeing
Well, it was obvious, but the standard of the match officials’ display has to be the first point. Even the victors must have been disappointed by the decisions as Vale’s penalty was soft and there was a bizarre decision to disallow a Rovers goal. However, the decisions that went against Port Vale were equally if not more damaging. The sending-off of Luke Joyce changed the game and looked harsh. Surely a yellow was more deserved? The additional time added at the end was a key factor too. Yes, credit to Tranmere for taking the game to Vale’s ten men but without that red card and Vale 2-0 up would this have been a different story? I think it would.
A different type of defeat
You could say that the mood of the fans after the FA Cup loss to Kings Lynn was embarrassment and annoyance. There was the fact Vale had lost to underdogs, had failed to make clear-cut chances and there was the annoyance of losing out on cup revenue. The reaction after this game was wholly different. There was annoyance – at the match officials and at the dramatic ending but there must also be pride at how close Vale’s ten men came to holding out. This was more bad luck than a bad performance. There’s a long season ahead and hopefully this loss will be balanced out by a bit of luck going our way later in the season.
A Luke Joyce sized hole leaves lasting damage
There’s plenty of key performers in this Vale side. However, while Scott Brown is shadowed by Dino Visser and Leon Legge by Shaun Brisley, there is no like-for-like replacement for Luke Joyce as he serves his suspension. The natural option is to bring in Manny Oyeleke if he’s fit and Danny Whitehouse offers an alternative if not. But Vale are vulnerable when Joyce is missing so this shocking decision could cause longer term damage to the Valiants.
Defensive concerns?
It may be creeping up under the radar but do Port Vale have a defensive problem? They conceded two at home to a poor Liverpool B side in midweek and shipped another four here. For all his inspiration play, it was another penalty conceded by captain Leon Legge (by my count that’s three this season) while there were moments of miscommunication between the defence and Scott Brown that were unpunished. The Valiants have now conceded eleven in eleven games and when you consider there were four cleansheets at the start of the season and only two conceded after six games played, that’s nine opposition goals in the last five games.
On the positive side…
Despite all the above there are positives to be taken from the game (honest). Tom Conlon was back to his best when Vale had all eleven on the pitch. David Amoo’s goal showed the benefit of training ground routines. Devante Rodney showed he could produce a goalscoring cameo from the bench. Scott Brown was his usual impressive self. It was a gutting result, make no mistake but Vale would do well to put it behind them and concentrate on the positives from the performance.
Tony Collier
15th November 2020 @ 1:18 pm
At the end of the day Vale scored a penalty that was very dubious and a training ground corner that won’t be successful again this season as every team will be watching for it now and a good header from the sub. But Tranmere scored 3 goals from open play
Geoff Ainsworth
15th November 2020 @ 5:54 pm
Sorry can’t agree re Joyce as iv’e yet to see him make a ball winning tackle in the 3 years been here, which is imperative in his position. Also yet to see him make an interception. i.e the only time you see him with the ball is when he has received it from his colleagues .also the extended trial should now be terminated re the incumbent left back position when we have two better players on the bench i.e. Monty or Brisley either would have done a better job than the present incumbent.
Philip Myatt
15th November 2020 @ 6:37 pm
My five thoughts are .
With ten men we were all over the shop, just booting the ball anywhere, no leadership it was downright rubbish.
With joyce on the field we were better but not much better his sending off a turning point in the game, no VAR in league two unfortunately as the ref made so many diabolical decisions.
Askey is slow to react to change whatever he told them to do with ten men created 40 odd mins of letting there centre half travel with the ball unchallenged it was so easy to see what was going happen we looked very weak defensively but at no point did Askey try and alter that.
To let two goals in 3 injury time mins showed a lack of fight character and heart.
Pluses the second goal and third goal.
Minuses the trying to defend, we are not equipped to defend our best form of defence is attack.
Dave Coathup
16th November 2020 @ 11:03 am
Tranmere fan here!
Thought your penalty was a dreadful decision, a clear dive.
The sending off was a shocking leg breaking tackle. Askey had no complaints.
No idea why our “goal” was chalked off.
Thought our penalty wouldn’t have been given had yours not been awarded. Our captain was booked in the tunnel at half time , I guess for telling the ref what a tube he was!
Our defending for the goals in open play was dreadful.
Thought we dominated the game overall, possession, passes, shots etcetera. Obviously the sending off had a big influence on the statistics.
Until recently we have been dreadful, slow play, no shots etcetera, but I was really pleased with our performance, and obviously the result!
I thought Vale were pretty flat and off the pace pretty much throughout.
Cheers
Dave Coathup. SWA
Keep the faith hope we both go up!
Glenn Fowler
17th November 2020 @ 9:28 am
Truly I think there were great expectations this season, but we have been bought down to earth with defence lucky they have not shipped more goals and certain players not stepping up to the ocky