"It was a lacklustre performance from both teams," admitted Laws.
"It was a bit like watching paint dry, but there was only one team out there who wanted to win it and that was us. We had enough possession, but did not do enough with it.
"There were certainly one or two fringe players of mine out there who did not show me anything that they were pushing for a first-team place."
Vale boss Martin Foyle was reluctant to praise his side, despite going through to the next round.
"We were not right in the first-half at all," he said.
"We were a bit negative in the way we played and didn't really want to go forward.