CRAIG Easton insists there are no excuses for Town's away day shocker at Vale Park on Saturday despite admitting feeling bemused by a first-half spot kick awarded against him.

The Town midfielder was harshly penalised for handling Paul Harsley's strike, with Luke Rodgers giving Vale a 17th-minute lead from the spot, but Easton insists the 2-1 defeat was nothing more than they deserved.

Lee Peacock headed home an instant equaliser for an under-par Robins but when Danny Whitaker took advantage of some sloppy defending on 26 minutes to restore the host's lead, Paul Sturrock's men had no answer.

"There was nothing in the penalty at all," said Easton. "I was just trying to get in the way of the shot.

"I don't know where my hands are, I am not thinking about them. I was about three yards away so I don't know what I can do about that.

"But we were back on level terms straight away so it was in our hands again. There are no excuses. Who is to say we would have scored had they not taken the lead anyway."

Slovakian stopper Peter Brezovan was handed his first league start since October 2006, a groin injury forcing Phil Smith out, while Sofi Zaaboub replaced Christian Roberts on the left.

Most were tipping an away win before the League One clash, with managerless Port Vale at the wrong end of the table and Town on a two-match winning streak.

But from the first whistle it was the hosts who looked the more hungry of the sides with Town's usual solid defence looking all over the place.

Whether or not Rodgers' penalty should have been given is debatable, with Easton just hit from point blank range, but there could be no argument a faster and sharper Vale deserved the lead.

Town looked to have got out of jail when Peacock glanced home Jon-Paul McGovern's free kick a minute later, but Whitaker's low strike soon after was no more than Vale deserved.

"I thought their goal might have been the scare we needed and that our equaliser would spur us on but it just didn't happen," said Easton.

"We were not at the races today. We did not start well and when you start as poorly as that it is hard to lift it. It is easy to come down if you have started quickly but not the other way.

"At half time even we gave ourselves a big ask and did not really get out at the sort of pace we have been playing in the last few games.

"We were a lot quicker and sharper in our approach to previous games. We did not lift it like we should have done and it was a real bad day at the office "We need to put things right in training but everyone needs to remember that is just one bad performance after a few very good ones. I can't remember the last time we played like that.

"We will accept the criciticsm the gaffer will give us and we will try and put it right."

Town improved a bit after the break but never to the standards that have led many to hail them as serious play-off contenders.

Jerel Ifil and Hasney Aljofree had probably their worst games in a Town shirt while the tireless Peacock was the only player to come out of the game with any credit at all.

Reading loanee Simon Cox should have earned the visitors an undeserved point in the dying seconds of injury time, stabbing over from eight yards after a driving run and pass from McGovern, but Easton admits it would have been robbery.

He said: "You would fancy Coxy from there but he is a young lad and he will miss a few of them in his career.

"At the end of the day I don't think we deserved it anyway. We would have taken the point but certainly can't put that defeat on him. He has done very well for us and he will bounce back for us."