Shaun Maloney dissects ‘polar opposite’ halves following end to unbeaten run at Port Vale

The result at Vale Park concluded the side’s unbeaten run of nine straight matches, with Ethan Chislett’s hat-trick securing the points for the hosts in the Sky Bet League One competition.

Latics had fought back from 2-0 behind to level the scores in the second half thanks to goals from substitutes Chris Sze and Charlie Wyke, only for Chislett to complete his hat-trick on 84 minutes.

“I think the way that we played in the second half, I can accept if we lose if we play like that,” Maloney admitted.

“It was the very opposite in the first half.

“When the levels are slightly down in any game, we can get hurt. And we definitely got hurt in the first half today.

“Port Vale, I’ll give them a lot of credit. They were very good in the first half.

“From my team’s point of view, we were down again on our levels and when we are like that, we’re not going to win games.”

The Latics boss admits that the defeat was made slightly easier by the second half performance, having been dominated in the opening period by the Valiants that included former players Gavin Massey and Funso Ojo, as well as ex-Academy youngster Alfie Devine.

“The second half was everything I wanted to see from one of my teams,” Maloney stated.

“I’d much rather go out like that than obviously the first half.

“They were miles ahead of us in the first half.

“Them being 2-0 up was a fair reflection of the first half. Then we had to make some changes and also change the mentality and the feeling of the group and they did. The players were brilliant in the second half.

“I want to win every game. This one hurts, particularly the first half.

"It was the opposite to what we’ve seen in the last couple of months and that’s what hurts so much. But I do have to give the players credit for the second half.

“The second half was the polar opposite of the first and I can accept getting beat with a performance in the second half like that.”