Gary Caldwell felt 10-man Exeter City failed to “match the fight” of Port Vale in a League One fixture settled by Will Forrester’s second-half strike for the home team.
Exeter manager Caldwell insisted Rekeem Harper suffered of a piece of rough justice when the midfielder received two yellow cards in the space of 11 minutes after the break.
Forrester scored from close range immediately after Harper’s dismissal to end Port Vale’s six-game wait for a home victory with a 1-0 win.
The visitors scarcely threatened and did not manage one shot on target. But Caldwell felt Exeter were handed a second raw deal when referee Andrew Kitchen refused to point to the spot following a nudge on substitute Jack Sparkes in the box.
“I thought it was a poor game on a terrible football pitch,” said Caldwell, whose team have claimed only one point from four matches.
“We didn’t compete and didn’t earn the right to play. When we went down to 10 men we played really well but before that we didn’t match the fight and battle. It was a pitch you had to battle on and play forwards quickly and we didn’t do that well enough in the first half.
“We will keep going, we knew this league would be difficult, we are putting together a new team. We missed some key players today, we are missing our best player [Jevani Brown] in terms of goals and assists and we missed Kevin [McDonald, whose wife gave birth on Friday], too.”
On the two bookings collected by Harper and subsequent non-penalty award, Caldwell added: “I didn’t think the first one was a booking and the second one was soft.
“I don’t know how other players didn’t get booked. There was horrendous tackle on Will [Aimson] that went unnoticed.
“It was a penalty, he pushed him in the back – but the referee didn’t give any fouls for pushing in the back today, so we need some clarification of the rules on that one.”
For Port Vale manager Darrell Clarke, achieving victory any which way was all the mattered following seven matches without a win.
Clarke’s side had claimed only one point from their previous five home games and last won at Forest Green Rovers on New Year’s Day,
This success avenged a 4-0 loss in the reverse fixture and lifted Vale three places to 12th, one point and one position ahead of Exeter.
“We needed to get back to winning ways and we did that,” said Clarke.
“We were the better team 11 v 11, too, then a bit nervy at the end when they were trying to chuck everything forward.
“But the lads held out well and it was a good three points.
“It was the perfect time to score, games can be frustrating, certainly on our surface.
Even though they were a man down, we had to get that goal and got it 20 seconds after [the red card]. We saw it through comfortably and Stoney [goalkeeper Aidan Stone] didn’t have a shot to save.
“Will’s [Forrester] performance was very good, he stepped in well. You can see the quality Matty Taylor [who made his full debut on loan from Oxford United] brings, his calmness and composure and knowhow.
“It was by no means the prettiest but we did what we had to. We have conceded too many goals recently, so getting back to the basics and keeping a clean sheet gave us a platform to win the game.”
