‘When their fans get going’: Port Vale boss on facing Portsmouth Fratton fightback

But the Port Vale boss was pleased to see his side follow through on their ambition of taking the game to John Mousinho’s side in the 2-2 draw.

Clarke’s side raced into a two-goal first-half lead, which they were good value for a Fratton Park lead at the break. The Blues rallied, however, with the home fans willing their team on when Colby Bishop reduced the arrears from the spot with 23 minutes remaining. Michael Jacobs levelled things up to leave a slightly anticlimactic feeling in the away dressing room in the final reckoning.

The former Pompey acadmey coach told Port Vale’s official site: ‘It was a good point, but there is a lot of disappointment in the changing rooms because we wanted it to be all three. We said we would come here and take the game to them and we did that. It was a really bright first half, on the front foot, and we scored a couple of goals. We were under a bit of pressure in the second half, we would have liked to have more territory in the second half but it didn’t quite fall for us. I am pleased with the performance as a whole.

‘It was only a five or ten-minute spell in the second half where we gave a penalty away and they scored. We didn’t collapse after that, that is a pleasing aspect. Portsmouth is always a tough place to play when their fans get going. We wanted to come here and have a right good go. Nearly 800 of our fans came here and watched us have a good go.

‘That is why the boys got clapped off at the end. A lot of people would’ve said that If you go down to Portsmouth and pick up a point, it would’ve been a very, very good point; it’s always a tough place to come, we’re just disappointed we let a two-goal lead slip.’

Port Vale looked assured of their place in League One with eight games to go, sitting 10 points clear of the drop zone in 16th place. That represents success for Clarke’s side, after gaining promotion via the play-offs last term.

He added: ‘The lads have given their all, everyone can see that we would’ve liked a few more wins the second half of the season but we’ve got eight games to go to see how high up the league we can get.’