Joey Barton hails ‘class act’ Aaron Collins after late Bristol Rovers winner

Bristol Rovers manager Joey Barton praised match-winner Aaron Collins after the striker’s late goal secured a 1-0 victory over Port Vale at The Memorial Ground.

Collins’ dramatic 87th-minute clincher meant Barton’s 100th game in charge of Rovers ended on a high and his boss was quick to pay tribute to the Wales international hopeful, who now has 11 goals to his credit this season.

He said: “You are learning from watching the top managers at the World Cup and that’s been the case with Brazilian boss Tite leaving Neymar in when not having his best of games against Croatia.

“You know he’s always capable of scoring anywhere and the same can be applied to Aaron who made the goal himself.

“It was his endeavour that pressurised the defender into rushing his headed clearance.

“Then it was all about his composure to produce a really good finish by taking his shot early and delivering a moment of magic which was needed to settle what was a very tight contest.

“It needed a moment of quality to give us the three points. He not only made a chance for himself but also finished with what is supposed to be his weaker foot. He’s a class act.”

Barton added: “Port Vale were the better side in the first 15 minutes but once we settled we showed the maturity and confidence to come through it and earn what was a very good win against a good side.

“I really enjoyed those opening exchanges more than I should have because it was too end-to-end for my liking.

“But I’m just glad the Gasheads went home happy because it was a phenomenal turnout of more than 8,000 fans on a day they could have been at home getting ready to watch England.”

Collins delivered the game’s decisive blow when he beat Vale goalkeeper Jack Stevens with a left-footed shot from just outside the penalty box.

Vale manager Darrell Clarke believed his team were victims of a miscarriage of justice as he claimed Collins fouled substitute William Forrester in the build-up to the goal.

The former Rovers boss said: “We lacked any real quality, it should have been a 0-0 draw and how the referee didn’t see the free-kick in the run-up to the goal I’ll never know.

“They’re full of excuses in there but I’m not accepting that one. That’s an obvious one so I’m frustrated.

“But I don’t want to hide behind that because the performance wasn’t good enough and certainly wasn’t was up the standards we’ve been hitting recently.

“We had great chances early on and then lost impetus, quality and momentum throughout the game which wasn’t a game with any quality.

“We should have got a point but you have to take decisions out of referees’ hands by making sure you play well and it’s as simple as that.

“I don’t want to be too harsh but we just didn’t deliver. That was not a front-foot performance that I want to see from my team.”