Vale made it two wins in succession on Tuesday night as they put three past Morecambe without reply at the Globe Arena. Tom Pope fired in a brace before the returning Cristian Montano found the net in stoppage time.
Having seen his team put in a professional performance to take all three points, Neil Aspin was ‘delighted’ with the application of the players against a capable Shrimps side.
“I’m obviously delighted because this is a tough place to come, the start of the game showed that with Morecambe putting us under a lot of pressure early on,” he said.
“Their physicality and aggression at the start made it difficult for us, but we rode the initial storm and then went on to score a great goal.
“We were excellent in the second half as well so I am really pleased with that.
“It’s great to see the fans here in midweek supporting their team, especially when they’ve not had too much to shout about. They will go home happy and we have got to try and keep them as happy as we can.”
The manager was also quick to praise the defensive work of his team as they kept their first clean sheet of the Sky Bet League Two season.
He said: “If you’re going to pull away from the bottom of the table you need to keep some clean sheets, but we’re trying to do both really – conceding less goals and scoring more up the other end.
“Tonight was perfect as we kept a clean sheet and scored three goals, but to get that, all eleven players have got to work hard.
“You need your goalkeeper doing well and all the way through your defenders, midfielders and forwards – everyone has to put a shift in to keep clean sheets, but it’s the same token if you want to score.
“We got bodies forward well, especially in the second half, and we looked like we would score goals tonight.”
Despite finding the net on three occasions, the Valiants could have widened the margin if it wasn’t for some fine saves from Barry Roche and the woodwork denying David Worrall.
With regards to the chances created, Aspin added: “I was happy with our forward play, we did look a threat and we could have scored a few more goals, but I am delighted to get three.
“Tom Pope has come up with another two and it was nice to see Cristian Montano coming back into the team with a goal. I’m calling him Cristiano and if he keeps scoring I will carry on, but it was a neat finish.”
The winger has struggled with injury since his summer arrival from Bristol Rovers, but Aspin is happy to have him back and available for selection. However, he admitted that it’s important to ease him back into action.
“It was key for him to get some minutes in at the end of the game because he’s just come back from injury,” he said.
“He will play in the reserve game on Wednesday and that’s important, getting 90 minutes under his belt. Hopefully he can produce the kind of form he was showing at Bristol Rovers when he was a threat there.”