Page: I'm over the moon

Mark Marshall's late winner gave Port Vale caretaker manager Rob Page the perfect start as he attempts to land the job.

Former first team coach Page took the reigns after Micky Adams resigned in the wake of Vale's sixth straight defeat against Bristol City on Tuesday. Vale were certainly worthy 2-1 winners against disappointing Barnsley, but Page looked like settling for a point until Marshall left three defenders in his wake and fired an unstoppable shot past Ross Turnbull. Page said: "I'm over the moon and proud of the performance the boys have put in. There was grit, determination and effort - everything I asked them for. "I've only had two training sessions with them since. I haven't tried to tell them anything new because I know they are good players who for whatever reason haven't been performing. "They are a fantastic group of lads and great to work with. They had lost their confidence and I just told them to go out there and enjoy their football. "I also told them to be determined and resolute and when they lost the ball to go and win it back. In other words play at a high tempo in all aspects and the lads did that. "It was a great winning goal by Mark who was terrific all afternoon, but I don't want to single anyone out. All of the players from one to 11 were excellent and the substitutes who came on also affected the game. "It's a bitter-sweet victory. I should have had Micky standing by me out there and I'm disappointed he's gone." Steady Vale pressure brought its reward in the 24th minute after Louis Dodds was tripped by Joe Dudgeon 20 yards from goal. Michael O'Connor stepped up and curled a terrific shot into the top corner of Ross Turnbull's net. A Dodds shot was cleared off the line by Jean-Yves M'voto with the Barnsley defence rocking again as half time approached. Dudgeon also cleared a goal-bound shot from Jordan Slew eight minutes after the break before the visitors equalised against the run of play in the 59th minute. O'Connor fouled Conor Hourihane and he made no mistake with the resulting penalty, which he drove inside Chris Neal's left-hand post before man of the match Marshall buried the winner. Barnsley manager Danny Wilson said: "We were beaten by a very determined team. That usually happens when a manager leaves a club and we knew what to expect, but we just didn't deal with it. "We were second best in the first 45 minutes when we just never got going. There was an improvement in the second half, but it still wasn't good enough. "We were a shadow of ourselves and we've got to take it on the chin and move forward. "A few of the decisions out there were questionable, but we've only got ourselves to blame. "Mark Marshall had a very good game, but we just didn't get close to him quickly enough. I took Reece Brown off at half time because he was having a tough time against him, but he still gave us problems. "It's particularly disappointing to concede a decisive goal so late, but we will regroup and bounce back." Breaking news, transfer gossip, line ups and goal alerts from your football club - delivered direct to your mobile. Sign up for Sky Sports Alerts