Cooper breathes sigh of relief

Mark Cooper admitted he will need "a couple of stiff drinks" after seeing Swindon hold on under strong pressure from Port Vale team.

Cooper's men had enough chances to be out of sight in the opening 20 minutes, but then had to defend stoically to keep out the hosts, who threatened an equaliser on several occasions. An early goal by Raphael Rossi Branco proved the difference and Cooper was delighted to be going home with three precious points in the race for automatic promotion. He said: "We could have put the game beyond them early on, but we've missed chances and then got sloppy. "We gave the ball away on a lot of occasions when we should have done better. That meant it was very end to end and resembled a basketball match rather than a game of football. "If our final pass had been better we would have had a field day in terms of chances, but we failed to deliver and Vale came back at us strongly. "Full credit to them because it turned into a very hard game and I must have covered miles pacing up and down the technical area. We were forced to defend and thankfully we did defend very well. "It's also the biggest pitch in the world here and if you turn the ball over as many times as we did it will cause you even more problems. The players were shattered by half-time. "It's a very good result, but doesn't alter anything. We've just got to concentrate on what we do and keep going." Swindon should have gone ahead in the second minute when Andy Williams fired wide of a gaping net after he was sent clear by Jack Stephens. But the winning goal arrived in the eighth minute with Branco heading high into the centre of goal from eight yards out following Harry Toffolo's right-wing corner. Massimo Luongo then had a fierce shot tipped against the post by Chris Neal with the Vale defenders chasing shadows. Vale improved as the first half progressed with Ben Williamson's shot saved by Wes Foderingham and Mark Marshall providing some dangerous crosses from the left flank. And they were inches from an equaliser in the 54th minute when Michael O'Connor's 25-yard free-kick clipped the top of the crossbar. Williamson again went close with the Swindon defence now rocking before Foderingham made a terrific save to keep out a fierce strike from Vale substitute Louis Dodds. But the visitors battened down the hatches to hang on to three precious points. Vale manager Rob Page said: "We are bitterly disappointed not to get anything from the game and even more so with the goal we conceded. It came from a set piece where there was some confusion. "But the players gave me absolutely everything and more. If we continue with that sort of work-rate and effort we will win more games than we lose. "We recovered from a difficult start to have a real go at them. We created numerous chances and promising situations but just couldn't get the ball in the net. "Swindon defended with a high line and I took Tom Pope off to see if we could get balls in behind them and use players with pace. "It almost paid off on a few occasions and I certainly think we deserved to get something." The defeat leaves Vale five points adrift of the play-off places, but Page added: "We will keep going. We will aim to beat Crawley here on Tuesday and try to finish as high as we possibly can."