Despite the fact his Vale side didn’t pick up that elusive victory when they travelled to Notts County this weekend, John Askey was delighted with the way the players performed.

It was the Valiants who controlled the game at Meadow Lane, and although they created a host of opportunities, they just couldn’t find the back of the net to take all three points.

The draw brought an end to a run of four successive defeats, and Askey is now hopeful that the squad can take confidence from their display as they look to build on that point in the coming weeks.

He said: “I’m disappointed that we didn’t get the win, but I was really pleased with how the players performed and the amount of effort that they put in.

“Hopefully we will look back on it as a point gained rather than two points dropped.

“We dominated the game which isn’t an easy thing to do in the situation we are in. Notts County had a big crowd trying to get behind them, but we nullified them.

“It was our supporters who were singing for the majority of the game, and I think anybody that came would’ve been encouraged by the performance.

“I thought the lads did really well and we were closing down really quickly all over the pitch, so we didn’t give them any time on the ball.

“That’s what we were looking to do, and if you do that closing higher up the pitch, it enables us to get forward to create chances ourselves.

“We did that, especially from wide areas which was something we’ve been working on, and we put a lot of crosses in. 

“On another day we would’ve scored two or three, but it hasn’t quite dropped for us again.

“That’s my first point as manager and it’s a clean sheet too which is a start, so we can take that and hopefully get rewarded a little bit more moving forward.”

Having made four changes to the starting line-up as well as altering the formation, Askey was delighted with the work rate of the players and he believes there were plenty of positives to take from the game.

The manager also acknowledged the superb support from the travelling Vale fans, and with 1,462 of them making the trip to Nottingham, they certainly made their voices heard.

On the away following, Askey said: “I thought the supporters were brilliant. We know that if we perform and work hard, they will get behind us.

“I’m sure that they’ve gone away from the game knowing that the team have given everything they’ve got. 

“They’ll disappointed that we didn’t get the win, but at least there was encouragement for them and we continually attacked to try to win the game.

“When the crowd get behind the players, you can see how much of a lift it gives them.”