PLENTY of players have made their debuts for Port Vale this season but there aren’t many who have arguably made as much of an instant impact as Alex Jones.

The 21-year-old striker became Vale’s 14th summer signing when he joined Bruno Ribeiro’s side on loan from Championship Birmingham City seven days ago and after coming on as a substitute in the 84th minute of his new team’s 1-0 win over Rochdale on Tuesday, Jones’ cameo was far from incident-free.

The frontman managed to win a penalty in the 86th minute, which was missed by JJ Hooper, and he almost scored three minutes into injury time but fired straight at Dale keeper Niall Canavan.

Following that frenetic run-out, Jones is understandably keen for more game-time when Vale travel to Swindon Town on Saturday.

“I have come here to try to play as much football as I can, so to get in the starting even would be great – and then (to) score as many goals as I can and help the team progress through the league,” Jones told the Stoke Sentinel.

“I was at West Brom since I was 12 up until 20. Then, I went straight to Birmingham and had a couple of loans last year; some successful, some not.

“I went back to Birmingham and was there until the end of the season.

“I am 21 now and want to play as much first-team football as I can.

“I have done U21s and am a little bit frustrated with playing U21s football at my age, so it was just a case of getting out and playing as many first team games as I can.”

Jones added: “I have been itching to get on ever since Saturday. It was good to come on and get another 10 minutes under my belt.

“Vale are a club on the up. They are one league below the Championship, where I am at the moment. For me to go down to League One and get as much league time as I can is only going to benefit me.”