Mark Yates is delighted with the Robins' performance but was shellshocked not to have won the game.
Mark Yates speaking to the media following today's 1-1 draw against Port Vale."I couldn't believe we didn't win. Their keeper made a couple of great saves. They're a really good side and you can see they've got some big, strong lads. Pope's got 20-odd goals already but I thought we were excellent today. We thoroughly deserved to win but you don't always get what you deserve. We've got to make sure we go to Rochdale next week and get all three points.
"I'm delighted with the performance and the number of chances we created. We kept going right to the 93rd minute. We're just a bit shellshocked we didn't win the game to be honest. We've had numerous chances, we don't blame strikers or anybody for missing chances. I think Darryl Duffy thinks he's just stroking the ball into an empty net at the end, the bench was up and it would have been just what we deserved, our players were fantastic tonight.
"I don't want to make their goal a big thing, the players themselves have talked about it and were trying to make sure they switched on and stayed focussed after our goal and we did for 5 minutes. When we attacked and the balls at the corner flag, fair play to their lad, he's wriggled his way out and got the game but the ball should never go from their corner flag to the back of our net. We're dissapointed with the goal but I'm really happy with the performance today against a side who's been around the top all season.
"I thought there was lots of action, we passed the ball really well and created lots of chances. I thought Zebroski was outstanding, I thought everyone out there had a really decent game. We're just a bit disapointed we didn't win it.
"I didn't know Jermaine McGlashan would be fit until yesterday morning. I'd already planned around him and I was more than happy for Marlon Pack to come back in and I thought he was back to his best. We're not leaving people out or dropping people, we're trying to manage the squad that we've got and that means that sometimes during a busy period of time like we have now some players have just got to come out. That's what we've done all season and it's been ok for us. I thought the one's that played were really good value today.
"I feel for the one's who can't get on the pitch at the moment but their time will come. We can't start more than 11 players, we've got a good squad of 18 players. I'm delighted with what we've got and we're just going to keep looking to get better and better and better."