Liam Manning convinced a win is around the corner for struggling Oxford

Posted Tuesday, April 11, 2023 by PA

Oxford boss Liam Manning believes a first win since mid-January is not far away after a battling goalless draw at 10-man Port Vale.

The U’s have gone 14 games without a win and this draw, a fourth on the spin, left them two points above the relegation zone.

Substitute Dennis Politic was sent off in stoppage time as Vale responded to Good Friday’s 3-0 defeat at Accrington with a much-needed point.

The Valiants are eight points clear of the drop themselves. They had the better chances, but Oxford goalkeeper Simon Eastwood pulled off some important saves to clinch a precious point.

Oxford boss Manning said: “It wasn’t a classic. It’s mixed emotions. There are elements where we didn’t have enough quality, but we showed a real desire to defend our goal and Simon Eastwood made some great saves.

“We all came here wanting to win and that’s the same mindset we take into every game and I think you saw that.

“The foundations you need are that you’re hard to beat and I think we showed that.

“We didn’t manage the game well enough and didn’t show enough quality in the final third. We had the ball in some dangerous areas but nothing came from it and that’s the challenge for all of us.

“We need to make sure we turn the point into three. We had some chances, we had a couple cleared off the line. It’s belief and it’s players stepping up and taking responsibility as well, which I’m sure they will do.

“I’m sure it will come. We’re four unbeaten and three of those have been away from home. At no point is picking up a point away from home in League One a bad thing.”

Vale boss Darrell Clarke was pleased to see his side bounce back from their dour Stanley showing with a clean sheet.

He said: “It wasn’t pretty at times, but I thought we had the better chances.

“We were looking for a response, we’re not running and doing cartwheels, but we were looking for a response from the awful performance at Accrington.

“We take a point and try to use this as a building platform.

“It’s very important to get a performance. We were asked questions as a group and rightly so, I understand that.

“Three of our last four performances before this game have been nowhere near good enough and the players are aware of that.

“It wasn’t a pretty performance, but a battling performance.

“Their keeper pulled off a couple of brilliant saves and if it wasn’t for that then we could be talking about three points, but it wasn’t to be.

“We have to use that performance as a platform. We’ve got a lot of work to do. We still need enough points to make sure we maintain our status in League One, which was our aim at the start of the season.”