Port Vale manager Darren Moore has urged his relegation-threatened side to put their disappointment of surrendering a two-goal lead against Exeter into their next outing.

Ethan Chislett and Baylee Dipepa both got their names on the scoresheet to put the Valiants firmly in charge at half-time, but two goals for Millenic Alli and one each for Zak Jules and Luke Harris earned the Grecians a 4-2 victory.

Moore was appointed Vale manager in February with the aim of beating the drop from League One, but his team are now three points from safety with just three games remaining – starting with the visit of Wycombe on Tuesday.

“It’s about putting all that energy and anger into Tuesday,” he said.

“I think that’s the only way really because ultimately coming against and fighting against each other, that’s not the way.

“It’s a case of sticking together and making sure that we take an opportunity to put the wrongs of the second half – and I only talk about the last 40 minutes here – right on Tuesday.”

Vale’s final two fixtures see them travel to Bolton before playing host to Cambridge on the last day of the season.

“We have to keep going because just when we think that we’ve figured this game out and this industry out, it can just turn its head,” Moore said.

“And that’s the thing, when we all surmise how things are going to go, football has a knack of turning things on its head, which you saw today from the first half to the second half.

“It’s just a crazy game that we work in but, again, we have to apply ourselves really because we know what we have to do on Tuesday.”

Exeter remain in 12th place, on 58 points, despite extending their unbeaten run to eight matches.

Manager Gary Caldwell was delighted with the character shown by his side to turn the game round after the break.

“The less said about the first half, the better,” the Scot said.
“The second half was probably one of our best performances of the season, the way we understood how to win the game. And there was no change, we didn’t change anything tactically.

“We obviously made a couple of personnel changes and made more throughout the second half, and I thought all the finishers were outstanding.

“But second half, the way we attacked – the speed, the physicality – we could have scored more goals. I thought we were outstanding.”

Exeter last suffered defeat in early March and Caldwell was full of praise for his team’s form since then, winning five and drawing three.

“We’ve had options from the bench so when things aren’t quite going to plan, we have people who are ready and able to come on and make an impact on the game,” he said.

“In the first half of the season we didn’t have that often enough for a number of different reasons, but in the second half of the season we have.”

Port Vale remain in the League One relegation zone after surrendering a two-goal lead to lose 4-2 against in-form Exeter.

Goals from Ethan Chislett and Baylee Dipepa put the Valiants firmly in charge at half-time, but two goals for Millenic Alli and one each for Zak Jules and Luke Harris earned the visitors – now unbeaten in eight matches – victory and leaves their opponents three points from safety.

Vale came close to opening the scoring in the 13th minute when Ben Garrity was denied by Viljami Sinisalo from close range after bringing down Chislett’s measured pass over the top.

And the hosts went in front just after the half-hour mark as a cleared corner was volleyed home brilliantly by Chislett from outside the area.

Their advantage was doubled in the 40th minute, with 17-year-old Dipepa cutting in from the right and guiding a left-footed shot past Sinisalo.

Alli nearly pulled a goal back for Exeter within moments of the restart, but his attempt from Yanic Wildschut’s delivery was saved by Connor Ripley.

The striker did find the net, though, in the 57th minute, with his deflected effort looping over Ripley.

Substitute Jules brought the Grecians level 10 minutes later, firing the ball in from Ryan Woods’ corner, and the comeback was complete in the 79th minute as Harris smashed a volley beyond Ripley from Pedro Borges’ lovely flicked pass.

Alli tapped in from Ilmari Niskanen’s cross late on to add extra gloss to the scoreline.

Exeter manager Gary Caldwell hailed a terrific team performance as his 10 men took a giant leap towards League One safety with a 1-0 win over Burton at St James Park.

Reece Cole struck the only goal of the game, in the 41st minute, before Exeter’s Zak Jules was sent off as the players walked down the tunnel at half-time for an incident unseen.

But Exeter dug deep and held firm as Burton pressed for an equaliser, although the Brewers were just as vulnerable on the counter-attack in an end-to-end encounter.

“I thought we started the game really well and we should have scored in the first 15 minutes, we created real clear-cut chances and if we score one of them then the game is totally different,” Caldwell said.

“We then got a bit frustrated midway through the half before we picked it up again and scored an amazing goal with how we wanted to play.

“I didn’t see the incident at half-time, I didn’t see that, but we lost a player and in the second half, the character, the determination and team spirit and understanding of how we wanted to play the game and see the game out was absolutely outstanding.

“They had one moment where they hit the bar, but they didn’t create much else and the way the people inside the stadium stood up in that last 15 minutes when everyone was on their knees – myself included – was fantastic. The players on the park were putting everything in and they needed the supporters to get behind them and they certainly did.”

Deji Oshilaja and John Brayford both hit the bar for Burton, while Antwoine Hackford passed up a good chance.

Frustrated Albion boss Martin Paterson said: “It’s very simple to explain – it was one of the softest goals I have ever seen conceded, a simple give-and-go that can’t happen in professional football; wing-backs getting done on the inside, a cut-back and people not tracking their runners.

“All of a sudden, we are 1-0 down and the problem then is that we don’t score goals. I don’t know the statistic or how many opportunities we had inside the six-yard box to put the ball in the back of the net, I have to be careful I am not hanging anyone personally out to dry, but it will be me that has to take it in the chin.

“I have no problem with that, but the issue is that we don’t take opportunities to score goals. We have to find a way and it is hard to explain because we had, in my opinion, five or six clear-cut opportunities at goal and have not scored one.

“It’s unacceptable from myself and from the team. We broke them down, we had a one-v-one, John Brayford hit the bar and there were crosses that should have been converted but we didn’t score and it’s hard to defend that.”

Ten-man Exeter gave their League One survival hopes a huge boost with a hard fought 1-0 win against relegation rivals Burton.

Reece Cole scored the only goal in the 41st minute but City had to play the entire second half with 10 men after Zak Jules was sent off for an incident in the tunnel as the players made their way off at half-time.

Exeter started well and should have been in front inside four minutes, but Luke Harris skied Ilmari Niskanen’s pull-back over the bar.

The deadlock was broken in the 41st minute after a lovely Exeter move. Jack Aitchison played a fine ball to Niskanen and he picked out Cole with a perfect cut-back, and he made no mistake from 12 yards for his fifth goal of the season.

Burton responded well with Deji Oshilaja’s header crashing back off the crossbar, but it took the Brewers 25 minutes of the second half to really get going and when they did, Antwoine Hackford was put in on goal but shot wide when under pressure from Niskanen.

John Brayford crashed a shot against the underside of the crossbar but despite eight minutes added at the end, the Grecians held firm for a deserved win.