Darrell Clarke left frustrated as Port Vale beaten by Northampton

Posted Sunday, August 08, 2021 by PA

Port Vale manager Darrell Clarke admitted he was frustrated by his side’s performance in their Sky Bet League Two opening day defeat to Northampton.

Vale started well at Sixfields but fell behind to Benny Ashley-Seal’s close-range finish against the run of play midway through the first half.

The visitors were then unable to recover from Lucas Covolan’s red card early in the second half as the goalkeeper took out Nicke Kabamba.

“It was a very frustrating game,” admitted Clarke. “I thought we started well and had a couple of half chances but then we don’t defend a long throw into our box.

“The lad shanks it straight to their centre forward and then we’re chasing the game and that’s not something you want to be doing on the opening day of the season.

“The big moment was obviously the red card and it’s just a bad decision from Lucas. He’s in a great starting position, he reads it well and then he’s got to deal with it.

“There is an argument that their lad has come through him to win the ball but, for me, he just needs to kick it into the stand and then we’re not talking about it.

“But that made it very, very difficult. We tried to work one or two opportunities and we could have been better with some of our counter-attacks but first game or not, it was a disappointing performance and I told the players that we’re a lot better than that.”

Cobblers manager Jon Brady was delighted to celebrate three points with Northampton’s returning fans.

“We’re certainly happy with three points on the board – you always want that, especially at home in front of our fans on the opening day of the season,” said Brady.

“They were amazing and you could feel the energy and feel the roar from them and I’m glad we have sent them home happy today.

“It was a real battle early on. They came to play on the front foot and try and turn us and it was one hell of a battle in there.

“I felt they had the ascendency early on and we were trying to get a foothold in the game because we were struggling a little bit, but we got the goal at the right time because that eased the pressure.

“It was a good finish from Benny and thereafter we came in at half-time, we regrouped and I needed to make a couple of changes to get a foothold in the game.

“Obviously the real turning point in the game was their goalkeeper getting sent off and Nicke did really well – that was something we targeted and we wanted to hunt him down.”