Port Vale: Fans' views

ILLNESS or no illness, we put on a poor display in the second half.

It lacked desire, passing ability, and but for Cheltenham's woeful finishing, we would be talking about a loss rather than a draw.

The referee didn't help either team by blowing up for every minor infringement.

Marc Richards took his goal well, although with the time and space he was afforded, you expected him to score.

But then it was the same old story of Vale creating lots of chances, but not being clinical enough to kill teams off.

Chris Martin made a couple of good saves and John McCombe, my man-of-the-match, ensured we salvaged a point with a superb last-ditch tackle.

The cynical among us would say Vale can only get up for the bigger games against the likes of Bradford, Crewe and Shrewsbury.

But when it comes to playing the likes of Accrington and Cheltenham, we lack interest and desire to finish off the opposition.

It was a case of two points dropped on Saturday, rather than a point gained.

CARL ZIEMANN, Sandyford

I FELT we deserved to be in front at the interval, although we missed several good opportunities to extend our lead against a lively Cheltenham side. We quickly petered out as an attacking force in the second period, though, which was hardly surprising after a virus swept through the camp last week.

On reflection, we probably just about deserved a draw, which extends our unbeaten run.

I hate to moan about referees, but the whistle-happy Steve Cook seemed determined to be the centre of attention.

He stopped the game at every available opportunity, which was quite unnecessary.

The standard of the officials has definitely deteriorated since last season and the Football League needs to take note.

I hope Lee Collins recovers from illness for Saturday's clash at Dagenham. He has probably been our most dependable and consistent performer this season and, at times, the defence appeared unsettled and unbalanced without him.

IAN WOODWARD, Congleton

IT was the type of stodgy home performance to bring everybody back down to earth after a couple of excellent results at Shrewsbury and Crewe.

I guess the outbreak of a virus didn't help as a few players seemed to run out of steam as the game wore on, although I'd like to think the manager wouldn't use that as an excuse.

We've had two fantastic away followings in our previous two games, but the atmosphere wasn't the same on Saturday with fans spread out across our big stadium.

To boast an attendance of less than 5,000 was also disappointing, although the fans did get behind the team at times.

I thought Cheltenham were there for the taking after having a bad week, with all the shenanigans involving their boss Martin Allen.

We scored early on and Cheltenham looked like a poor side low on confidence.

But we didn't get that crucial second goal, and after the break, Cheltenham began to dominate possession.

So I was happy with the draw in the end because the Robins looked like the stronger side as the match wore on.

ANDY McCORMACK, Burslem