“Crewe deserved their win."

Micky Adams was philosophical after the home defeat to South Cheshire neighbours Crewe Alexandra but had no complaints about the final results.

He also explained his decision to take of central defender Joe Davis with just over half an hour played on a day the youngster faced his father’s team for the first time.

The Vale boss said: “Crewe deserved their win, I can’t deny them that. I am disappointed with certain aspects of our performance more than others.

“I thought on a positive, creating chances and going forward there was enough there for us to get something out of the game, but defensively we were bang average again and you can’t be.

we didn’t do that today, so subsequently we have got punished. “You need people with cool heads to make the right decisions, particularly defensively and

“As the game was progressing, I felt that I wasn’t working for us, so you either sit there and accept it and maybe go another goal own or you try and do something about it and I chose the latter.

“Some people will say it is a bit harsh on people, but I make decisions, I am not afraid to make them and I have done that all my career.

“Whether they are right or wrong, well, we have lost a game of football, so they are always going to be open to debate in terms of one, Joe.

“I think that is a hard thing to do for a kid. He sees his dad come home fighting relegation and he sees the hurt and the disappointment in his dad, because that is what we do as football managers, we take things home with us.

“The hard thing for Joe was to not let that put him off his own game today, but I thought, whether I was right or I was wrong that it was getting to him.

“He had been booked and he was lucky to stay on the pitch with the other tackle so I decided to take him off. Now whether that was the right decision, it was probably the wrong decision picking him in the first place with the greatest of respect.

“But as I said before we have lost a game of football and when you do that you open yourself up for criticism.

“Joe has got what it takes to bounce back, the lad has been great for us ever since he came back from Luton, but as I said, that was as tough a game for him as he would have to experience today.

One-nil down at the interval, all of the half time talk went up in smoke just three minutes into the second half when the visitors were awarded a spot kick, a blow felt by the manager.

“That was particularly disappointing. Lofty thinks it was a bit harsh – looking at it, I think it was a penalty and we saw examples of that in the Champions League this week.

“Arsenal got a penalty where the fellow checks back inside. If you dangle a leg and the lad falls over it’s a penalty and I have got no complaints about that.

“We are on one of those runs at the minute. We have to regroup, stick together, look at each other individually, collectively and I think that is the key thing.

“I thought there were some poor performances out there today and I have asked them all individually to look at themselves before they start pointing the finger and blaming other people.

“I think that is too easy sometimes.- but good luck to Crewe, I hope they stay up and we wish t hem well.”