Following the 1-0 loss to Cambridge United on Saturday afternoon, John Askey has insisted he couldn't fault his players desire on a tough afternoon at the Abbey Stadium.
Vale started the affair in positive fashion, though squandered a number of chances to put themselves ahead in the first 15 minutes.
Antony Kay saw an audacious effort from the edge of the box fly just too high of the Cambridge goal, before Tom Pope failed to convert one-on-one with the 'keeper as Vale piled the pressure on the hosts. Pope found the net minutes later, only for it to be ruled out for offside, a decision that has not convinced the gaffer.
David Amoo's deflected strike on 19 minutes proved to be the only goal of the game, as Askey tasted defeat for the first time as Port Vale manager. Despite the loss, the boss remained upbeat about the Vale performance.
He said: "I thought we started really well. We had the ball in the back of net from the free-kick which has shown up that he wasn't offside.
"Tom had a good chance just before that as well and the 'keeper's made a decent save so things were going okay.
"But they grew into the game and created one or two chances, but we stuck in there and even towards the end, we could've scored a goal.
"I'm not disappointed with the players efforts, I'm disappointed with the result."
Port Vale face a huge few weeks in Sky Bet League Two as they come up against a number of teams battling for survival in the Footballleague.
Fixtures against the likes of Morecambe, Cheltenham Town and Notts County all within the space of three weeks could define Vale's season, and the gaffer admits that his Port Vale team need to treat every game like it's a cup final.
With Morecambe up next, this Saturday at Vale Park, Askey admits each game will be fight from now until the end of the season.
He said: "Whoever we come up against now who are in and around us, it is going to be a fight. I said today, every game we play it's got to be like a cup final until we're safe.
"It's not easy to play under those conditions be we'll try to drill it into the players. It's important that we keep the ball and we get plenty of crosses in.
"Hopefully we can start to do that and then the results will come."
You can find the gaffer's full post-match interview, below.