Port Vale boss Darren Moore hailed his side’s consistency after moving joint-top of League Two with a 3-2 win at Walsall.
The Saddlers supplanted Vale at the summit in December after winning in Burslem and stayed there for four months – until Moore’s men gained revenge at the Bescot Stadium.
Vale dropped as low as sixth after five wins in 19 games between November and mid-March.
But they reclaimed top spot – albeit only for a couple of hours until Bradford beat Crewe – with a fifth win in six games.
“People ask if there’s been a specific moment and I just put it down to consistency,” said Moore.
“We’ve just kept chipping away, kept that belief. No finger pointing, anything like that, just having that trust in the players.
“A win like this increases confidence, togetherness, determination, resilience, character, all those things but we have to continue doing what we’re doing.
“To be in this position at this stage is what we have worked for. The hurdles the team has to overcome – emotionally, mentally and physically – change from week to week.
“We spoke at half-time about not playing to the occasion, playing the game, that we needed to show a bit more composure which we did in the second half to take the sting out of the game.”
In a madcap start, Walsall’s Jamille Matt had a header disallowed after 12 seconds before Lorent Tolaj’s fourth-minute overhead kick put Vale ahead.
Walsall quickly turned the game on its head through Taylor Allen’s penalty, after a Jayden Stockley handball, and Levi Amantchi’s close-range finish – all inside the first 11 minutes.
However, Ben Garrity levelled and Tolaj won it from the spot after being fouled by Oisin McEntee.
Walsall were 12 points clear at the top in January but have now been overhauled by Bradford and Vale and face a battle to cling on to an automatic promotion spot.
“It looked like the energy had sapped out of the lads in the second half,” admitted Walsall boss Mat Sadler.
“We have to learn from this, we have to face it head on and be ready for the next bit.
“The most important thing for us is that we don’t go looking at it [the table] – there’s no point looking broadly, you have to look right in front of your face at what’s coming next.
“We have to make sure we repeat and remind who we are and what we do and how we affect teams and that’s the message.
“I want the players to be disappointed but we go back to work again. Everyone will be doubting us and that’s the case, no problem at all.
“We’ll let everyone else doubt us and it’s up to us to prove those doubters wrong.”
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