Neil Aspin has congratulated his Port Vale side after they defeated promotion chasing Lincoln City on Saturday.

Antony Kay’s second-half header proved the difference between the two sides as The Valiants moved nine points clear of the drop zone.

Speaking after the game, the gaffer expressed his delight with all of his players as they impressed on the afternoon.

He said: “It’s a total difference to last week.

“The players deserve all the credit as they’ve come out today in a big pressured game against a good team.

“They got over the line in the end and won the three points, so I’m really pleased with their efforts today.”

Aspin feels that his side prepared well in the week for the game yesterday and believes that everything went to plan.

“We spent the week preparing for their set-pieces,” he said.

“They score a lot of goals off set-pieces, and even sometimes we aren’t at our best with crosses and set pieces, but we were awarded today with a good goal.” 

The gaffer was also quick to celebrate Kyle Howkins’ return after he and Nathan Smith managed to keep forward, Matt Rhead at bay. 

Howkins recently returned from a small knock that he picked up in training as he yet again impressed at Vale Park.

He added: “He’s done really well since he was come here.

“We had a couple of games where he would have been playing but because of injuries, we weren’t able to play him because of his knee. We had to nurse him through the game, but he had a really good game.

“We needed him, we needed his height and he’s been an asset to us.”