Port Vale assistant manager Andy Crosby felt his team were denied three points by a wrongly disallowed goal at Harrogate.

Just two minutes before heading in an equaliser midway through the second half to cancel out Alex Pattison’s opening goal, on-loan Leeds striker Ryan Edmondson had seen a similar effort chalked off after being penalised for an alleged push.

But Crosby, standing in for Darrell Clarke who is taking time off following a close family bereavement, argued that the 20-year-old forward’s first effort should have also stood after watching it back following the 1-1 draw.

He said: “I’ve looked back at Ryan’s disallowed goal and, if the referee was to give fouls for that all over the pitch, the game would be stop-start constantly, so we walk away disappointed with one point.

“The players put in a really good performance without the ball and, in the second half, we had them pinned in for long periods and limited their opportunities for transitions.

“We’ve been looking to improve in the final third and I also thought we had more shots collectively. We looked at set plays before the game and made the first contact with a couple early on, but we were unable to put the ball in the back of the net, so it was extremely frustrating to go behind.

“We got our rewards in the second half, though, when we were brighter and had more penetration. It was a good goal that I was delighted with and we came close to getting the winning goal on a few occasions, but we keep collecting points and that’s nine games unbeaten now, so we’re on the right track.”

Harrogate boss Simon Weaver, meanwhile, hailed midfielder Pattison as a “unique” Sky Bet League Two talent after he scored his 10th goal of the season.

“It was a wonderful team goal that we scored,” Weaver enthused. “It showed our pace through the middle of the park and I was pleased that Alex got to finish off the move as well.

“He’s a driving force from midfield. His pace and power in the middle of the park is quite unique at this level.

“He creates goalscoring opportunities because of that and puts people on the back foot, which is what we are all about as a team.”

Weaver was also pleased with the manner in which his players stood up to Vale’s muscular threat.

“We would have liked to have had more passages of play where we were dominant, but they are a physical team and looked huge coming out of the tunnel,” he said. “That weight of presence can shape a game of football, so you have to give credit to them, but we also showed the pace and skill we have got.

“Our confidence levels are going up and they should go up again, because we dug in and mixed things up, which shows we are maturing as a team.”