Port Vale manager John Askey believes the team need to focus on their winning mentality to secure more points.

Askey felt his players held their own against a side who are now unbeaten in their last 17 league games, believing the Vale were unfortunate to not come away with at least a point.

Saturday’s defeat at Newport was the first time this league campaign that the Valiants have failed to find the back of the net, but the boss has emphasised that his players still have to be more clinical in front of goal.

With the game all square with 20 minutes to go at the weekend, Vale conceded following a quick throw-in and as three challenging matchups rapidly approach, Askey highlighted the importance of maintaining a winning mentality for the full 90 minutes.

He said: “We’ve still got to learn from it [Newport], still we need a little bit more will to win, that winning mentality… we’ve got to look at it and learn from it and that’s all we can do.   

“People can’t afford to switch off, and hopefully by watching videos and by keep drumming it into them, without getting too obsessed about it, then we can change that mentality.

“It comes down to being intense in training, making sure the little things matter, so when we train we’ve got to keep the tempo up and keep onto players when the ball’s gone dead that they react quickly.”

After a busy summer, which saw 14 players arrive at Vale Park, Askey has made it clear how valuable competition for places is to the squad, with him able to make five changes against Shrewsbury Town and still get the win.

One of the players who has been staking a claim to first team minutes has been Jake Taylor, who joined on loan from Nottingham Forest, and the gaffer has rewarded his efforts by starting him against Shrewsbury and bringing him off the bench against Cambridge.

Rhys Browne, who also joined this summer, has recently returned from injury and provides another option to the gaffer who still has Manny Oyeleke to return as well ahead of a difficult run of games, starting with Plymouth on Saturday at Vale Park where the Valiants remain unbeaten.

That home form has been central that what Askey wants from his team and he remains confident that they can beat any side that travels to Vale Park this season.  

He said: “He [Taylor] did well against Shrewsbury, he’s positive how he plays, he tries to play forward, got a lot of energy and a good attitude as well.

“Our home form is vital, players look as though they enjoy playing at home, the crowd get behind us and it makes a big difference, so whoever comes here we feel as though we can give anybody a game, and there’s no reason why we can’t win the game on Saturday.

 “We feel as though we can match anybody, I know we lost at Newport but I felt we were a match for Newport, so it’s about on the day, it’s about us and if we perform we know we’ll get a result.”