Port Vale manager Darren Moore believes his side are heading in the right direction after moving into the League Two play-off places with a 2-1 victory over Swindon.
George Byers and Brandon Cover bagged the goals as Vale rose up to fifth spot with a third win from their last four matches.
Swindon scored a late consolation courtesy of captain Will Wright’s free-kick and also hit the post through Aaron Drinan’s drilled effort when the game was goalless.
But Vale were deserved winners and Moore was delighted with his team’s showing.
“I thought it was a good performance,” he said. “Another step in the right direction in terms of the performance that we want to see at Vale Park.
“I don’t think anybody can have any complaints with the three points today. I thought it was a dominant display.
“I probably thought from their point of view they had two moments in the game – they hit the post and then of course [there was] an exceptional free-kick, which we know the boy’s got it in his locker.
“But I thought, on the balance of play, we deserved the three points today and it’s credit to the boys in terms of the hard work they’ve put in over the week that we’ve had.
“We felt today that we wanted to go up front with almost like three number nines and put Swindon on the back foot.
“We know Swindon are a possession-based team, we know they like to dominate the ball.
“But we thought, in our own backyard, we forced the initiative and forced them into errors.”
A fourth defeat of the season for Swindon keeps them in 21st place – three points above the relegation zone.
Boss Mark Kennedy was extremely disappointed with his side’s display.
“In terms of our football performance, I thought we were below par today,” he said.
“In terms of the game, it was a really ugly, physical game. We were obviously well down on that. We knew that coming into the game. There’s really not a lot we can do about that.
“We’re missing a huge amount of height, physicality and power. It is what it is.
“So we knew today could have been a brutal afternoon. I thought it was. I thought Port Vale did everything to us that they’d set out to do.
“I thought we dealt with it well on the whole. We rode our luck a couple of times undoubtedly. There were a couple of balls in the first half that I was waiting for the net to bulge.
“I’m talking about set-pieces, every set-piece, anything in the build-up [to the ball] coming into our box.”
Interim boss Stephen Frail expects Motherwell to appoint a new manager next week and admits their first job will be to lift the players’ confidence after a 3-0 mauling at home to Ross County.A double from Ronan Hale and Connor Randall’s last-minute strike secured an impressive victory for the Staggies at Fir Park.Defeat sees the Steelmen drop into the bottom half of the Premiership tab...

Mark Hughes heaped praise on goalkeeper Gabe Breeze after Carlisle picked up a vital point in the League Two relegation battle with a goalless draw against in-form Colchester at Brunton Park.Breeze made two excellent saves from Lyle Taylor as the Cumbrians ended a four-game losing run and the former Man City boss was astounded by the 21-year-old’s performance.He said: “The game had som...

Chesterfield boss Paul Cook launched a scathing attack on his play-off hopefuls after they surrendered an early lead to lose 3-1 at Sky Bet League Two table-toppers Walsall.The Spireites enjoyed a rapid start when Jamie Grimes’ eighth-minute header put them ahead against a wobbling Walsall side, who were winless in five matches with the chasing pack closing in.However, Bim Pepple and Dylan D...

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has allayed fears of an injury scare to top scorer Erling Haaland ahead of next week’s Champions League trip to Real Madrid.Haaland went down clutching his leg in the latter stages of the champions’ 4-0 Premier League thrashing of Newcastle at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday and was immediately substituted.Losing the Norwegian would be a major blow to ...

Rotherham manager Steve Evans described Thomas Parsons’ performance as “atrocious” after the referee awarded a stoppage-time penalty from which Reading snatched a 2-1 victory in League One.Reading had led 1-0 at half-time through top scorer Harvey Knibbs but Sam Nombe levelled for Rotherham from a spot-kick in the 57th minute.With the game heading for a draw, Parsons adjudged Mil...

Michael Flynn believes his team can make a charge towards the League Two play-offs places after watching them come from 2-0 down to beat Barrow 3-2 at home.Matty Taylor scored twice before fellow substitute Ashley Hay hit the winner as the Robins continued their perfect home record in 2025.Cheltenham climbed to 13th in the table and sit eight points off seventh-placed Crewe with two games in hand....

Birmingham manager Chris Davies praised Jay Stansfield’s work ethic after he lit up St Andrew’s with the only goal of a 1-0 win to sink play-off chasing Charlton.Stansfield’s 23rd-minute strike stretched City’s lead to nine points ahead of second-placed Wycombe, with Blues boasting a game in hand.Victory was City’s 30th in all competitions as they extended their unbea...

Andoni Iraola refused to get carried away after Bournemouth fans were left dreaming of a potential Champions League adventure following a first league double over south-coast rivals Southampton.Travelling Cherries fans chanted of playing in European football’s premier competition next season after their side soared to fifth spot in the Premier League table thanks to a deserved 3-1 success at...

Norwich head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup praised his side for fighting back to draw 1-1 at Hull after he demanded “I want to see my football team back”.The Norwich boss had some tough words for his team as they trailed 1-0 at half-time to the relegation-threatened side, including for Kellen Fisher – but the player then delivered the assist for Josh Sargent’s equaliser.The Un...

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers says Jota has a chance of starting against Bayern Munich after scoring and impressing in a 3-0 victory over Dundee United.Jota earned the club’s man-of-the-match award after cutting in from the left and curling home from 18 yards to double the lead given to the hosts by another impressive finish from Callum McGregor.The Portuguese winger has now started two gam...


