Following the defeat to Swindon Town on Saturday afternoon, Danny Pugh was left disappointed with Vale’s performance, but he is confident he and his teammates will bounce back.
Prior to the Robins leaving Vale Park with all three points, the Valiants had put together a run of three consecutive victories under new manager, Neil Aspin.
Pugh has captained the side during the recent upturn in fortunes, and he knows that standards need to remain high if Vale are going to climb up the Sky Bet League Two table.
Reflecting on the Swindon game, Pugh said: “We’re disappointed. It was scrappy in the first half and there wasn’t much in the game, but in the second half we’ve conceded three poor goals from our point of view.
“Swindon are a good team, but every game in this division is a tough one. If you’re not performing at your top level you’re going to get beaten - that’s what has happened today.”
Despite the frustration having lost the game, Pugh insists that everybody must look at the bigger picture and the recent overall form should serve as inspiration.
“I think we’ve got to look at the last few games,” he said.
“This one was disappointing, but we’ve got to look at how we react to that now. It wasn’t a great performance, but we train again on Monday and that’s where the hard work starts before Friday.”
On captaining the team and the impact of Aspin, Pugh added: “It has been to great to wear the armband and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.
“Obviously results have been going well, but we are hurt after this defeat and it’s our job now to bounce back.
“We’ve all enjoyed it under the new gaffer, training has been bright and results have improved.
“We will go back into training now, get our heads down and prepare for the FA Cup tie with Oxford United. Everyone will put the Swindon game behind them and we’re looking forward to the next test.”