Port Vale beat Cambridge United 1-0 in League One
Mark Bonner, Cambridge’s manager, made no excuses for the team’s defeat at Port Vale by 1-0. He praised Vale’s organization and said Will Mannion was his best player.
Bonner’s outstanding record has led the club to automatic promotion in 2020/21 as well as a 14th-placed finish last season in League One. This result left them 18th after five league defeats on spin.
Bonner spoke to the club after Paul Digby’s 79th-minute own goal had split the teams. Bonner said: “The goal probably sums us up at the moment. Although we were anxious in the first half, they settled into a rhythm and Will made some great saves.”
“We made some changes at half-time and gained more control, but the second half was pretty much dead. There was not much creativity on either side and it was an unfortunate goal to concede. It was a terrible goal to concede.”
“But we didn’t create enough in this game. It is best to draw it 0-0 and at this point, we only need to find a solution.”
“We have lost too many of our games, and the performance was probably a bit fitting.” “We are currently in a very difficult situation, but we will work our way out of it.”
When asked about his team’s lack of attacking fluency, he replied: “Sometimes, it’s confidence, other times a bit of rhythm and flow in the game. We haven’t quite achieved that momentum.”
Sometimes it’s work ethic, courage, or atmosphere. Sometimes, it’s a good defensive structure. They were able to recover from a few moments of counterattack in the first half. They fought hard and ran hard. We must get back to that. There’s also a luck component, though not to the extent of playing at an online casino.
“If we want to be creatively optimal, we must be without the ball. We need to be our strongest, most resilient, strong, hardest-working, and most aggressive. It’s not nice to find yourself in the middle of being neither of these things.
He said, “Will Mannion’s performance in the second half was a match-winning effort. He saved and did his job well enough for us to stay in the game. The rest of us have to make match-winning and pivotal decisions in order to win the game.”
It is a great challenge. It is a big challenge, and it is up to the players to come together to scrape and fight for it.