Neil Aspin praised his more experienced players following his side's 2-1 win over Walsall in The Checkatrade Trophy on Tuesday evenin
Scott Quigley's fifth minute goal setthe tone for an impressive performance from a much changed Port Vale side. The stately forward did well to get in front of his man, to arrow a header into the far post following an impressive Idris Kanu cross.
Despite the Saddlers getting back on level terms on the stroke of half-time, the tie never looked in doubt for Aspin's side, as Danny Pugh curled in a winner with half an hour to play to ensure The Valiants progress through the group stage of the cup competition with a perfect three wins out of three.
Following the victory, the boss has praised the likes of Pugh, Antony Kay and Louis Dodds claiming they set the perfect example for the younger generation.
He said: "One thing I will say about our club is that we've got older pros at the club whose attitude is spot on.
"We've spoken about them in the past but obviosuly tonight we've had Antony Kay, Danny Pugh and Louis Dodds who all worked exceptionally hard and they've obviously had much bigger games in their career, but their attitude is spot on.
"If you are a young player, you will get help because they're the type of players that we have at the club."
History was made on Tuesday evening, as Nelson Agho replaced Kanu with just under 10 minutes to play to become Port Vale's youngest ever player to represent the first-team at just 15 years of age.
Agho moved to England from Valencia just four years ago and despite interest from a number of clubs, decided to sign for Vale. Having impressed Vale's academy manager Sevvy Aslam, Aspin gave him the chance to train with the first-team over the last week and the young lad got the nod to travel with the squad for the final group stage game of The Checkatrade Trophy.
Having now broken a record that dated back to the 1960's, Aspin has praised the work going on behind the scenes at the academy and claims it is only positive for the club.
He said: "It's a chance to play a young lad which will give hope to other players that are young and coming through.
"I recognise that our academy has got a difficult job because no matter how much people support Port Vale and who love Port Vale, there's a lot of competition for young players and a young player with dreams of playing will be attracted tonplay at other clubs.
"It's very hard for Port Vale to attract the best young players but it shows tonight that we are always willing to look into younger players and if in the future we can produce our own players great, but I wouldn't put pressure on teh academy to bring players through.