Portsmouth are top of the league for a reason: Port Vale boss' verdict

But the Port Vale manager didn’t see a big gulf between his side and the Blues, as they went to the top of the table with a 1-0 victory.

Clarke was disappointed his team didn’t hit the levels he believes they are capable of achieving, as he acknowledged Pompey deserved the three points.

He told Port Vale’s YouTube channel: ‘Portsmouth are top of the table for a reason, they have some good players and they make it very difficult for you.

‘We’re not a million miles away. I didn’t look at Portsmouth and think they are miles better than us.

‘They are efficient and deserved the three points. But I haven’t seen anything in the division which makes me want to say “I don’t want to play them again”.

‘I just feel that when I know what my team is capable of and it doesn’t hit the standards that it should, well you have to at this level.

‘You have to be able to hit those standards to be that consistent and pick up points consistently. We came unstuck on that.’

Clarke was disappointed that Pompey were able to score from their only shot on target, as Marlon Pack opened up the Vale defence for Dane Scarlett to convert.

He added: ‘It’s a loose bit of play and one pass has gone straight through the middle of us. It was just a loose, sloppy moment for us.

‘We defended pretty well and they didn’t really open us up.

‘We didn’t do as much on the front foot, it was a frustrating afternoon.

‘It was a very scrappy game, a lot of stop-start, quite a frustrating game. They scored with their only shot on target and we have not done anywhere near well enough with the ball at times.

‘It was one of those days where if you produce so many moments of poor play and loose play, you don’t get anything going. It felt like that on occasions. We had a couple of bursts but in general we need to be better.’

Vale fans called for first-half penalties as they had a couple of moments of pressure, but Clarke wasn’t agitating over the decisions.

He said: ‘You hope one of those goes in your favour. We didn’t get many decisions but that can sometimes happen.’