Darren Moore believes his new-look Port Vale side are making progress

Posted Sunday, August 18, 2024 by PA

Port Vale manager Darren Moore says he is encouraged by the way his new-look squad are gelling together after making it four points from their opening two League Two matches with a 0-0 draw at home to Tranmere.

Vale have made 13 signings since being relegated last season and began the new campaign with a 2-0 win away at Salford last weekend.

Moore feels there is plenty more to come as his team look to return to League One at the first time of asking.

“We’ve brought a lot of new players in, so you’re learning with them on a daily basis,” he said.

“But also the biggest learning for me comes in matches because of the combination play, the link-up play, the understanding.

“There were moments today in the game where I thought they linked up really, really well.

“There were moments where probably the pass or the run was not quite there, which is understandable being the second league game – they’ll only get stronger.

“The pleasing thing for me is we’ve got one or two more stronger players that we can add to that squad that hopefully will challenge and make that squad better again.

“So we’ve come up against a real strong team today. Tranmere are very, very organised.

“They’re very astute and [have good] understanding in terms of what their jobs, roles and responsibilities are. But we forced them to change today and I think that’s another positive for us.”

Tranmere arguably came closest to breaking the deadlock in the 13th minute, when Omari Patrick pounced on a defensive mix-up and moved towards an open goal, only to be thwarted by Tom Sang’s crucial recovery tackle.

Boss Nigel Adkins questioned whether the incident could have resulted in a penalty or a red card for Sang.

“We’ve come here to try and win the game,” he said.

“We started okay, then they had a bit of the game and we thought ‘right okay, the counter-attack is going to be a threat for us’.

“Omari Patrick is through. Is it a penalty? Is it a sending off? Let everybody make their own decisions.

“Ultimately, the referee’s not made that decision in his mind, so you have to respect that whether you like it or not.”

The goalless draw is Rovers’ second in as many league matches, having played out a stalemate with Notts County on the opening day of the season.

Sandwiched between the two outings was a midweek 3-0 victory over Accrington Stanley in the EFL Cup.

“We’ve seen a Tranmere Rovers team respected by the supporters,” Adkins added.

“They’ve all had a good cheer together at the end of it.

“They’ve seen a team that have grafted, played some good football, worked their socks off for the team.

“From my point of view, we’ve come here to win the game. But we’re going away with our third clean sheet on the spin and another point on the board against very challenging opposition.”