Darrell Clarke pays tribute to “outstanding” Port Vale supporters

Port Vale manager Darrell Clarke paid tribute to the supporters after his side suffered a narrow 1-0 home loss to Sheffield Wednesday.

I love honest fans like our fans, they pay their hard-earned money. We want more for them and we will work hard to get more for them…

Clarke told the media: “First and foremost, I would like to thank our fans. I thought they were absolutely outstanding. It was a really good atmosphere, they got behind the lads, stayed behind the lads and it is a great strike from their lad that wins the game.

“One thing I know about our fans is that if you give everything for the shirt, they will stick behind you and get behind you, without a shadow of a doubt – they have been like that since day one.

“They will also let you know when you’re not. That is fair enough for me, I love honest fans like our fans, they pay their hard-earned money. We want more for them and we will work hard to get more for them.”

Commenting on the game Clarke added: “We are disappointed. We played a lot better in the first-half than the second-half in a game that was tight and scrappy and probably could have gone either way.

“We want to have a good go at teams, certainly when we are at home with the ball, with a high press and cause them problems. That little bit of quality in the right area wasn’t to be.

“That is what can happen; the top teams at this level have that real, genuine quality throughout their group and they can hurt you, but what I will say is that we competed against those teams, we have to compete against those teams, and that for me is the future of where we are heading, where we get to the stage where we are beating those top teams. On today’s performance, I don’t think we are a million miles away.”