Darren Moore believes League Two leaders Port Vale have room for improvement

Posted Sunday, October 20, 2024 by PA

Darren Moore believes he has the squad needed to bring success to Port Vale after a 3-1 win against Fleetwood kept them top of League Two.

After a dominant Vale start that saw Rico Richards open the scoring after 33 minutes, they were quickly dragged level three minutes later through Carl Johnston.

Moore’s side responded strongly in the second half with Ryan Croasdale restoring Vale’s lead and Ronan Curtis coming off the bench to score.

Port Vale boss Moore said: “With this type of game, we wanted to dominate the game and we thought if we get the shape right and the personnel right we would cause issues.

“We have highly rated individuals who can exploit those and they did it. We have had to be patient, we wanted to get everyone on a page physically and now it has given them the mindset and mentality that we want.

“Even now looking at the group there are areas to improve, there has to be. I know exactly where the group is and where they need to be.

“Bringing in that volume of players in (16 new signings) there has to be a lot of work and repeated messages but it is work we are committed to.

“Looking back to where we are, we are starting to see the fruit of our labour that we adopted in the team.

“There is a togetherness, a spirit, an understanding of what we are doing and a responsibility of what they have got for this team and for the community of Burslem and with that they must not sit back and rest.”

Vale extended their winning run to nine in all competitions but ended Fleetwood’s run of five games without defeat.

Fleetwood boss Charlie Adam is keen to learn from Moore.

he said: “Darren is a vastly experienced manager, he has had a few clubs and managed in the Premier League. We always knew it was going to be a challenge.

“The recruitment they have done has been very good, and he is someone you look to and is a genuine, nice guy.

“He is someone who would pick the phone up if you needed advice. I am learning and I understand what I want my team to do and today we didn’t do what we thought would be capable enough to hurt them.

“I believe that we can come here and play, it doesn’t matter if they were top of the league. I believe we have a good enough team to come here and win but unfortunately, we didn’t do the basics.

“Sometimes the opponent is better and that is what happened today. We did have a period of control in the game but we were never good enough with the ball and we will take our medicine.”