Port Vale manager Darren Moore believes the ball could not have fallen to a better player after a late goal from Ronan Curtis secured a 1-0 win for his side against Morecambe.
Curtis’ shot from 25 yards found the bottom corner in the 89th minute to send Vale up two places to fourth in the table, level on points with AFC Wimbledon in third.
Moore was delighted that the opportunity came the Irish winger’s way.
“If the ball was going to drop like that to anybody, at that distance from goal, it was Ronan because he’s a clean striker of the ball,” he said.
“When he hit it, my eyes scanned to the goalkeeper and I saw him scrambling, so it was one of two things – either he’s scrambling to make the save or it’s gone past him, and I’m glad it was the second one.
“It’d gone past him for us here at Vale Park and we see it end up in the back of the net.
“We talked at half-time about needing that one clean effort at goal and obviously we would have liked it to come earlier than that, but I was just pleased with the way the boys kept going.
“And even trying to change up the shape and getting personnel on the pitch, I was just really pleased.
“They’ve definitely gone and grabbed that win really by the scruff of the neck.”
Morecambe remain in 23rd place and are now seven points from safety.
Despite suffering a fifth defeat in their last seven outings, boss Derek Adams was extremely proud of his team’s display.
“I thought we were excellent today,” he said. “I loved the performance, I loved the way that we played.
“Tactically, we were outstanding, with and without the ball.
“We were unfortunate not to score, a number of times, in the game. Yes, Port Vale could say that as well, but you’ve got to remember, we’re a team down at the bottom of the league coming to a team that is pushing for promotion.
“They’ve been in League One last year – resources are completely different.
“But tactically, my players were excellent today. I loved them, I loved the performance – I told them that after the game.
“This game does not define our season. We’ve got eight games to go and we’re fighting for the football club, we’re fighting for the owner, we’re fighting for the board of directors, we’re fighting for the supporters because that’s all we can do.
“We’ve been put into this position by not scoring enough goals and not being able to kill off teams when we’re on top of games.”
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