'It's now or never' - Hall on Vale's survival bid

Port Vale centre-back Connor Hall says "it's now or never" if the club are to save themselves from relegation to League Two.

Vale's plight at the bottom of the table worsened with Tuesday's frustrating 3-2 defeat by fellow strugglers Blackpool that left them 14 points adrift of safety with 11 games to go.

The loss was their 19th of the season and extended their run of tough results to only one win in their past 10 League One matches.

Hall said the defeat was "really hard" and "a big blow" having led twice only to concede two goals in the space of nine second-half minutes.

"The basic errors, the errors that you learn as a young kid. They are fundamentals, are non-negotiables and we haven't done them in them small moments in a game," Hall told BBC Radio Stoke.

"Again, it's cost us all season, it's cost us again and it's completely summed us up."

Vale's survival bid might be helped by the number of games in hand they have on their relegation rivals.

They have played three fewer than Blackpool in 21st spot and Exeter City - in 19th place on 42 points - and two fewer than Wigan Athletic in the final safe spot in 20th and also with 42 points.

"There's a lot of games to go but we've given ourselves a massive mountain to climb now," Hall said.

"The only thing we can do is get back on the training pitch and try and get wins on the board like we have done all season. We've tried to do that all season - it's now or never.

"It hurts me every time we lose a game, it hurts me every time we let a goal in - I'm absolutely gutted with how it's gone [against Blackpool].

"We've given fight and we've given heart and desire over the last few weeks without a doubt, but we're just falling short.

"We've got to make sure that we keep fighting on the pitch for as long as possible until the last kick of the season and see where that gets us."

Barring an incredible run of form, Vale seem certain to make an immediate return to League Two following last season's promotion under Darren Moore.

This term has proved much tougher, with Moore replaced by Jon Brady at the start of the year.

Despite their thrilling FA Cup successes, only two wins in 12 league games under the Australian has not improved their situation at the bottom and Hall said seeing the team there is hard.

"It's so frustrating. The high hopes that we had for this season and to see us bottom of the league, to see us as the worst team in the league, I just can't get my head around it," he said.

"We're not the worst team in the league but it shows we are. It hurts so much. I don't want a relegation on my CV but we've got to learn fast and we're running out of games.

"Mathematically it's not [over] so we've got to keep driving and give everything we can to get a result."