Port Vale boss expecting big response against Charlton Athletic

Port Vale manager Darrell Clarke is expecting his players to put in a big display against Charlton Athletic on Saturday and make amends for their 4-0 defeat at Oxford United last weekend.

The Valiants suffered a heavy reverse on Saturday.

Vale are 15th in the League One table, one point behind Charlton.

“It’s a very soft, poor away performance,” said Clarke to Port Vale’s official YouTube channel. “Our away form has been pretty good, I think it’s seven points out of nine [before Saturday].

“Today we were soft and we didn’t really get ourselves going. We conceded a really early goal to get their confidence up.

“We had good chances and didn’t take them – they were clinical.

“I don’t like my teams being soft and at times we looked soft. One or two decisions went against us but that doesn’t mean we have to be soft in our approach. Too many of our players weren’t at it and we have got to respond.

“It certainly should give everyone a kick up the backside to realise there is still a long way to go to be an established League One team. On that performance we’re nowhere near it.

“We had fantastic support and I apologise for that performance. We have to have a hard, physical week on the training ground to make sure we respond on Saturday.

“I’ve got good characters in there. They are a pleasure to manage. We’ve had a really, really bad off day. We have to reset. We will reset and we will bounce back.”