Vale boss Askey hoping for turning point after victory

Posted Sunday, March 10, 2019 by PA

Port Vale boss John Askey hopes his first victory in charge can be a turning point in his side’s season.

Ricky Miller’s second-half double in a 2-1 win over promotion-chasing Mansfield earned Askey his first triumph in six Sky Bet League Two games as Vale lifted themselves seven points clear of the bottom two.

Askey said: “Obviously I’m really pleased, we’ve been playing well, putting in performances but today we have taken our chances.

“To do it against Mansfield, a team who are obviously doing really well and will probably get automatic promotion shows how well we have done. Although we scored two, we could have scored more.

“We talked about it in training, about putting teams under pressure, especially when we are at home. I thought we showed that, and that’s what we did.”

Vale goalkeeper Scott Brown saved a 17th-minute penalty from Nicky Ajose, providing the catalyst for the win that came courtesy of two goals in three minutes just after the interval from Ricky Miller.

Although Ajose pulled one back just after the hour, Vale held firm for the rest of the game.

“There was a lull in play when they got the penalty, but then that changed it and gave us a massive lift,” added Askey.

“It was great to finally get the win. That’s what we’ve all been looking for and hopefully, we can reproduce that.”

The defeat means the Stags have now slipped out of the automatic promotion places.

Boss David Flitcroft said: “We lacked responsibility from start to finish.

“You have to be responsible. When you are in control of a football, you have to be responsible for the situation and how you deal with that situation in a game. These moments have an impact on the team.

“We have been undone and Port Vale deservedly won this match.

“You could argue if the penalty had gone in, it’s a different contest but you have to deal with what’s gone before that and what’s gone after that. We need to learn from the defeat.”