Cambridge 0-1 Port Vale reaction – “we don’t build an eleven here, we build a squad…”
Post-match reaction to Port Vale’s 1-0 away win at Cambridge United with Vale manager Darrell Clarke paying tribute to his squad strength.
The Valiants managed the victory despite first-choice forwards James Wilson and Ellis Harrison being absent and overcame the early loss of goalkeeper Jack Stevens.
Darrell Clarke
A really good battling performance; it is a very tough place to play. Cambridge United did excellently last year and they are an established team from last season, so to win it 1-0 we are delighted.
We want to get after every team; we want to defend right, we want to play with the ball right and create opportunities. We certainly did that – especially first half – and we defended very well as a team to limit them, because I don’t think they had a shot on target. That is pleasing – lads were putting their bodies on the line and defending really well.
On the players who played and didn’t play:
We don’t build an eleven here, we build a squad, we keep harping on about that and you see that with the front two today – I thought they were outstanding. Stoney comes on and keeps a clean sheet – it is all about the squad, it always will be and it was testament to that today.
We are delighted that the boys who apply themselves day in and day out on the training ground with a good performance.
Gavin has played up front before for Wigan and is versatile; we don’t want be short in that area – we have tens in Dan Butterworth, Rory Holden and Dennis Politic, who has a slight niggle, but I felt it was a game where we could stretch their back line and I felt Mipo and Gavin were suited to the game really. They were unfortunate not to get on the scoresheet.
Connor Hall
I think we performed well as a team and deserved the win; coming to places like this, it isn’t easy, but I think we did the majority of things that we needed to do to win the game.
We got lucky with the own goal but I think we deserved throughout the game.
We said before the game today that we would have to win the battle; they are a big physical team and I feel like we did that for the majority of the game. That stood us in good stead when we got the ball down and tried to play football. It is a good surface here, we created chances and definitely deserved it.
On returning to the side
I wasn’t good enough for a few games and I came out of the team, it is as simple as that. Dan did well and I had to wait, be professional, work even harder and wait for my time to come.
Every game is a different project and personnel come in and out of the team – not just on bad performances – but with how the game is set up and again this was another today, in which we got three points.
Cambridge manager Mark Bonner
I thought it was a poor game. I think the goal does completely sum up where we are at the moment.
We probably started the game and looked a little bit anxious and flat in certain situations, which is tough. You’ve got to grab the game by the scruff of the neck.
It’s a match-winning performance from Will Mannion, because he keeps us in it first half, but we need more people grabbing games and creating match-winning moments themselves.
We changed things at half-time and got more control of the game, but there wasn’t much creativity about us, and to be honest it was a dead game second-half. Nothing happened. The goal just sums it up for us a little bit at the moment.
It’s a tough run of games for us, tough results at the moment. We’ve lost way too many games. That should be just a rubbish 0-0 in the end, but we haven’t found a way of taking points from games at the minute when they’re running away from us.