Latics failure leads to angry blast

The Latics failure to hold on to the lead at Port Vale lead to an angry blast from manager Ronnie Moore. The boss said, "We let them in the game with two sloppy goals and it is not the first time it has cost us. We looked okay at 1-0 and at 2-1, but it was disappointing to concede again right at the death. They caused us a few problems with crosses into the box but we should have dealt with the situation better."

It is all about being winners and you have to be brave and strong. If our centre backs had defended any deeper they would have needed snorkels and we finished up in a bit of a shambles. They were daft goals to give away but how many times have I said that before? They were just hopeful punts into the box. We work hard and graft and I have no problem with that. But we invited them to come at us and got punished for it. It was good to see Luke Beckett and Chris Killen get on the scoresheet and their goals should have been enough to give us all three points."

We had to do a lot of defending in the second half, but the way we did it just invited trouble. We were too deep, and there’s no way in the world they should have scored two goals from balls to the back post. If you go 2-1 up with 10 minutes to go, you’ve got to wind down the clock and make sure you hang on. You’ve got to be professional. Conceding in the last minute was a sickening thing to do, but we offered them a point on a plate. I felt like somebody had put a knife in me and I told the players that if they don't feel the same they can go."