When Mitchell Clark arrived on loan from Aston Villa in the summer he didn't quite expect to be making the number of appearances he has done for the club, but he isn't complaining one bit.

The 20 year old signed for the Vale in August 2018 and made his debut for the club just two days later in a 1-0 win over Crawley Town.

Having made just one appearance in the Football League at Aston Villa before his arrival at Vale Park, Clark has taken to League Two football brilliantly and has received many plaudits for his performances so far this season.

Though initially under the impression that he was joining the Vale as a back up to the likes of James Gibbons and Cristian Montano at full back, Clark says the minutes he's getting under his belt is just what he was after and is hoping for many more.

"I've played more league games than I thought and I've enjoyed it! I had a bad spell before and I was coming in and out the team but hopefully I've showed people what I can do.

"When the gaffer came in I was a bit nervous about what was going to happen, I played the first three games and I didn't do my best. Rightly so I was dropped but then I came back into the side when Gibbo got injured and took my chance.

"Since the gaffer's arrived I can see myself watching back how much I've improved since he came in and that's all I can ask for."

After playing in Askey's opening three games as manager, Clark was later dropped for the fourth loss in a row away to Cheltenham Town which even the youngster admits was the right decision to do.

His spell out the team however was short lived as Gibbo picked up a back injury for the trip to Notts County, and Clark was recalled back to the starting line up. Since his recall to the side, the full back hasn't looked back.

The Vale have gone on a fantastic run of form and sit third in the league table for form in the past seven games, picking up 14 points out of a potential 21. Clark say's it's been down to their style of play and has praised his fellow teammate for the help.

"It just shows what a difference it can make when you play good attacking football. We had a very young back four Saturday but as you can tell it didn't stop us doing what we had to do.

"When fans or another team look at that back four they think 'inexperienced', but we're eager to show people we can do and perform to our best and we've been doing that.

"Nathan Smith has got plenty of experience which is also great for a young lad to have and helps the other three lads as well to push us along. I look at him and think I can learn off him especially with the number of league games he's got under his belt."