Vale recorded their first win of pre-season on Tuesday night as Neil Aspin’s men ran out 3-2 winners away to Halifax Town.

Tom Pope found the net before David Worrall scored a brace as the Valiants lined up in a new formation, and the manager was impressed with the performance of his squad.

He said: “It was a really good workout for us tonight. You only see things from your own point of view rather than Halifax’s, but we tried to play a new formation.

“It was something that we had worked on, but until you play it in a game you don’t know how it’s going to go. 

“With that, we probably got what you expect. It’s not all going to go smoothly, but there were some pleasing aspects to the play and we did create a lot of chances.

“I need to sit down and watch the game back with everyone, but there were plenty of positives to take from tonight, especially after going a goal behind.

“We had to play our way back into the game to get an equaliser, and then after half-time I thought we were really good for 20 minutes - that spell was good and we could’ve scored more.

“I’d probably take away that spell as an example of what we need to do more consistently in the 90 minutes, but I was very happy and if we are going to play like that, it was encouraging.”

Vale’s forward play was a highlight during the game, and the combination of Tom Pope and Scott Quigley caused Halifax some real issues.

Aspin then decided to switch to a front three for the second 45 minutes, and opportunities continued to come Vale’s way, something which the manager was very pleased about.

He said: “In the first half we had two up front and one in behind the strikers, and then in the second half we played with three up there.

“Everyone has their own views, but I thought we were better in the second half with that formation. We made more chances and we carried more of a threat.

“We’ve got to look at different formations and pre-season is the time when you’ve got to do that, but there was enough encouragement from tonight.

“David Worrall did well in the second half playing in the three and he took his goals well. He could’ve scored a couple more, but he got into some really positive positions.

“We do want more goals from David. He works exceptionally hard and if he can add that to his game, we have a really good player on our hands.”