PORT Vale manager Neil Aspin says there was no excuses for his team as they were beaten 3-0 by Swindon Town.

Aspin had enjoyed an upturn in fortunes since he replaced Michael Brown at Vale Park just over three weeks ago.

The hosts were unbeaten in their last three and went into the clash with Swindon on the back of a 1-0 away win at Exeter City.

However, after a goalless 45 minutes, Matt Taylor handed Town the lead with a superb free-kick in the 51st minute, before substitutes Paul Mullin and Kellan Gordan tied up the win by notching in the 71st and 85th minutes respectively.

Speaking after the game, Aspin, who was Port Vale captain during his decade long association with the club from 1989, pulled no punches in his assessment of the fixture.

“It was a really disappointing afternoon. I’m not going to offer any excuses. We were poor,” said the 52-year-old former Gateshead and Halifax manager.

“I thought in the first half, although we were solid defensively, we didn’t create anything and our passing was poor.

“In the second half, once we conceded, I felt as if there was only one team that was going to win the game.

“All the good work that we’ve done to get three wins, I felt as if we threw that away. We’ve let our supporters down.”

Following a positive start to life in the Vale Park dugout, Aspin said the defeat was a reminder of how much work is still to be done.

The Staffordshire side were relegated from League One alongside Swindon, but currently sit one place above the League Two drop zone, with 14 points, while Town moved up to fifth.

“We have to start again because we are in a relegation scrap and today has showed that if we start thinking we are better than we are, that performance was a relegation performance,” added Aspin.

“We have to do much better.

“After the goal I think their heads went up and our heads dropped.

“We must keep working and get back to the performance level we had last week and if you drop below it you’re not going to win games.

“There are no positives that you can take out of today’s game for the supporters.”