Neil Aspin: "We looked more of a threat going forward"

Port Vale extended their unbeaten run to five games last night, and Neil Aspin has praised his forwards claiming they looked dangerous in attack.

Vale's defensive record has been key to their recent form, having kept four clean sheets in a row prior to last night's tie with Notts County, however their struggles at the other end have been evident having scored no more than one goal in their last three games.

Luke Hannant scored an early goal to set the tone for the afternoon, before it was cancelled out just eight minutes later through Kane Hemmings. Notts County then took a late lead as Elliot Ward converted from a deep cross, however Tom Pope was on-hand to level proceedings with just a minute to play in the league tie, slamming home a header from inside the box.

Neil Aspin has praised his forwards performance from the draw and claims it has given the fans something to cheer about.

He said: "If we'd have drawn the game 1-1, we would've been disappointed, but then when you do concede and get one bck, it feels a bit more satisyfing.

"I'm really pleased with the players today because we created more chances and we looked more of a threat going forward.

"We've done well defensively lately but we couldn't continue in that vein where we are only making the odd chance in a match so today was a lot more positive. It was good to give the crowd a bit of excitement."

Two forwards the boss was especially impressed with following the result was Ben Whitfield and Hannant. Aspin made just one change for the league fixture, bringing in Whitfield for Ricky Miller, and the former loanee certainly justified the gaffer's decision with a stellar performance.

Whitfield's performance earned him the fan's man of the match having worked tirelessly from the off, as well setting up Vale's first goal of the afternoon. The scorer of the first goal has also been given praise from the boss as the former Gateshead man was a constant thorn in The Magpies side.

Aspin said: "He did really well today, Ben. I only took him off as he looked as if he was tiring from working his socks off. He was playing up-front today and I thought he did well - he gave us energy, he ran in behind and he was a threat so I was really happy with his performance.

"Luke is capable of scoring a goal, you need to make sure you say he's scored three not two because he'd be disappointed about that! 

"He did point out that he's the second highest scorer at the club so we don't want to take his goals off him but I thought he played well today. He was in a different role today but I thought he did well - he got forward, he's got good feet and he can head the ball for his size so I'm delighted he got the goal today."