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• Darren Moore admits lapse of concentration cost Port Vale

  Port Vale boss Darren Moore blamed his relegation-threatened side’s dramatic 2-1 home defeat to Wycombe on a lack of concentration at the back.

  Vale’s League One existence now hangs in the balance after a late Nigel Lonwijk strike means they are three points from safety with just two games left.

  Wycombe took the lead in the fourth minute when David Wheeler was first to react after Connor Ripley had saved a close-range header from Sam Vokes.

  Wanderers could have been two ahead just moments later as Wheeler again found himself free with just Ripley to beat, only to see his effort drift wide.

  Vale’s only real effort of the first period fell to Ethan Chislett, whose long-range volley was spectacularly pushed over by Franco Ravizzoli in the Wycombe goal.

  The home side began the second period brightly and were level just two minutes after the restart when Chislett slotted past Ravizzoli after finding himself in acres of space.

  But with Vale pushing for that all-important winner in their battle to beat the drop, it was Lonwijk who popped up at the other end to win it for Wycombe and heap more misery on Moore’s men.

  Moore said: “It was disappointing because you don’t want to lose a game in that manner.

  “I really felt like we were in the ascendancy and if we kept our concentration we could get a chance to win the game, but we fell to a really late goal that absolutely knocked the stuffing out of the boys.

  “We gave ourselves a mountain to climb after conceding that early goal and got back into the game early in the second half through Chislett to really give ourselves momentum and hope.

  “I still felt that a chance was going to drop our way but what I didn’t envisage was our lapse of concentration at the back that has led to their goal.

  “We’ve got two games remaining and we know what to do, we’ve got to dust ourselves down and get ready for another tough game on Saturday.”

  Wycombe claimed a second consecutive away win.

  Boss Matt Bloomfield said: “I’m disappointed we weren’t further ahead if I’m honest. We could have been three-up after 10 minutes and could and should have been out of sight.

  “We knew it was going to be a tough game as Port Vale are fighting for their lives and have got some really good players, so to find an early goal and a late winner, I’m delighted.

  “We needed to start the game on the front foot and the game plan was coming off and it wasn’t until the second half that they managed to break us down, but to find the character to go and get the winner was really pleasing.

  “I stood on the touchline thinking this was a war of attrition and it was tough to get out at times, but we had fresh legs on the bench so I’m really pleased with the performance of the whole squad.”

• Pete Wild fumes at ‘outrageous’ penalty as Barrow held by Crawley

  Furious Barrow manager Pete Wild criticised the award of Crawley’s penalty in his side’s 1-1 draw at the Broadfield Stadium as an “outrageous, ludicrous decision”.

  Striker Emile Acquah headed Barrow into the lead shortly before the interval but Danilo Orsi’s 20th goal of the season from the spot midway through the second half dragged Crawley level and kept them in the play-off places along with their opponents.

  Wild severely criticised referee Sam Purkiss for “taking 20 seconds” to make the penalty decision for a handball by Rory Feeley, and he answered in the affirmative when asked if he thought the linesman had made the decision because the referee had not seen it.

  Said Wild: “We were outstanding, especially with what we’ve gone through (losing three games in a row).

  “It was a classic Barrow performance, solid at the back and threatening on the counter-attack.

  “That was very pleasing but then it’s all ruined by an outrageous, ludicrous decision that was made without any thought.

  “It’s ruined it for us after scoring a great goal.”

  Wild was mystified why referee Purkiss took the time he did in deciding to give a penalty, and added: “It took 20 seconds to make that decision, why was that?

  “There were two more crosses going into the box in that time before the decision was made.”

  Crawley’s point came after two successive defeats and boss Scott Lindsey felt his men did everything they could to try and force victory.

  He said: “We did everything possible to try and win a game of football.

  “We were up against a strong, defensive unit in Barrow and if we perform like that in our last two games we’ll be fine.”

  Seventh-placed Crawley hold a one-point advantage over Walsall and Lindsey believes his side are the “calmest” team in the play-off places owing to them being written off as “relegation fodder” at the start of the season.

  He said: “We are the calmest because we are not supposed to be there. It is still in our hands and we are not worrying about other teams.”

  Lindsey admitted he was “angry” about the booking of midfielder Jay Williams as he claimed Purkiss “booked the wrong player” and Williams will now miss the last two games.

  The former Swindon boss said: “I’m angry about that as Jay has done so well for me.

  “Jeremy Kelly made the foul but Jay won the tackle and yet he was booked. It’s the wrong decision, it’s not fair and should be looked at.”

• Still work to do for Colchester – Danny Cowley

  Danny Cowley insists Colchester still have work to do to secure their League Two status despite their vital 2-0 home win over Grimsby.

  Colchester took a fifth-minute lead through Tom Hopper, who ran onto Arthur Read’s excellent pass and coolly lifted the ball over goalkeeper Jake Eastwood and in.

  And John Akinde sealed the Us’ victory in the 79th minute when he lifted a fine effort from just inside the area into the far corner, from Noah Chilvers’ pass.

  The victory relegated Forest Green, who did not even play on Tuesday night, but Colchester boss Cowley said: “We’ve still got work to do but I think we can be really pleased with ourselves tonight.

  “I thought we had a really good first half an hour and went 1-0 up, could have gone 2-0 up.

  “But we didn’t go 2-0 up at that time and probably in the middle part of the game, there was a bit of a storm.

  “We lost Alistair Smith which was a big loss and came out and tried to keep the same system that just didn’t quite work, with the personnel.

  “So then they were quite gung-ho and loading six on the attacking line so we went to a back five and I think once we did that on maybe 50 minutes, we got a foothold back in the game and looked a real threat on the counter-attack.

  “We had numerous chances and it took a Glenn Hoddle-esque chip from John Akinde to win us the game.”

  Grimsby, who are not yet mathematically safe, pushed hard for an equaliser after falling behind early on and Donovan Wilson and Harry Clifton went close to levelling.

  But despite Colchester defender Tom Dallison being dismissed for a foul on Justin Obikwu in stoppage time, Colchester claimed victory.

  Grimsby boss David Artell said: “If I give anyone the hairdryer treatment, it’s for lack of effort and there wasn’t lack of effort tonight.

  “That’s the only time I’ll get irate and it’s not my job to shout at people – it’s my job to help people get better.

  “Do you ever get a teacher shouting at a 10-year-old? It’s his job to help them.

  “For me, it’s about standards, it’s about making sure with that final pass and that was the difference tonight.

  “It’s about having those standards from where we are to maybe that next level.

  “They’ve picked a team to try to outmuscle us and win those set-pieces and we’ve stood up to all that, which is credit to the players, but it’s that difference between the ball going behind someone and not through on goal and actually someone scoring the goal.”