Captain, Antony Kay, admits that his side were “devastated” not to come away with a result against Grimsby but has said that the signs were there.

Port Vale narrowly lost the League Two encounter at Vale Park 2-1 after dominating the first-half. Tom Pope took the lead for Neil Aspin’s men before Grimsby got two back in the second.

Following the gaffer’s first week with the Valiants, Kay has said it’s been a good week under the new manager as things get underway.

He said: “It’s always going to be different when a new gaffer comes in.

“He’s got a different way of playing, a different philosophy and a different persona about him. The lads have taken to him well and I think it showed on Saturday.

“Obviously we were devastated with the result. I thought that we should have got something from the game. The first-half was a much better performance but it’s just the fine details with a bit of luck which isn’t dropping for us at the moment.”

Talking about the new gaffer himself, Kay has nothing but positive words to say about the Vale legend

“He’s one of them where when he speaks, people listen”, said the 34-year old.

“I think we need that at the minute. We have a big squad now and people need to react. We are where we are for a reason, there’s no lying about that.”

“We need to stand up and be counted. I think this gaffer will come in and crack the whip a little bit and we have to respond.”

With a big squad, there will be a lot of competition for places and that’s how Kay sees it with Nathan Smith, Tom Anderson and Joe Davis all fighting for a centre-half position.

Kay said: “We’ve got some good centre-halves at the club.

“Obviously, Nathan [Smith] is upcoming, he’s really strong and we also have Tom [Anderson] who’s a big lad and wins his headers. We’ve got Gavin Gunning on the left as well as Joe Davis so we’re blessed in that position.”