Andy Crosby demands better as Port Vale’s winless league run continues

Boss Andy Crosby wants Port Vale to “demand more of each other” after his side lost 2-1 to Shrewsbury to remain without a league win in over two months.

Max Mata and Dan Udoh helped Shrewsbury return to winning ways, with Ben Garrity pulling a goal back.

The Valiants’ last victory in the league was in the middle of September, beating Northampton 1-0 at home, and it is now 10 games without a win.

After securing their place in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup and the second round of the FA Cup, Crosby wants their cup form to translate into the league.

He said: “We are talking about another performance with control of the ball, domination of the ball, getting into really good areas of the pitch, number of shots, but we need to be more resilient as a group.

“We have to demand more of each other as a group because we did a lot of preparation coming into the game on how they could hurt us and it would probably be a direct ball or a counter attack or set play.

“We go in 1-0 down at half-time and we re-emphasised that point that their next goal from how they played first half would be from one of those reasons.

“We get punished three minutes into the second half, which is really disappointing.

“I thought the reaction was good; we continued to dominate the ball and we created opportunities from set plays and had a number of shots and shots blocked.

“We worked there keeper but at the end of the day we have lost another game and it has been a similar game to what we had previously in this run of games.”

Shrewsbury boss Matt Taylor was pleased with the response of his players.

He said: “Every result we have had this season, I would argue, has been hard-earned.

“It feels really sweet. I questioned the players very honestly and openly during the week and what they have done is what they have done recently at home a lot and found a way to win a game of football.

“If I look at the aspects of the game in terms of did we keep the ball well enough, no, but we defended our box apart from that one set play really well.

“Unbelievable result at home. I was over the moon for Max Mata to get his goal which was long overdue.

“Hopefully now what that does is give him the opportunity to kick on and get more goals and do what he was brought to the club for. I thought he was really good.

“Dan Udoh, an unbelievable individual goal. He has done that now this season two or three times, so he was really pleased to get the win.

“All credit to Port Vale, they will be disappointed they haven’t got anything from the game from the amount of chances they have had.”