Brown salutes his heroes after winning start

MICHAEL BROWN hailed a “fantastic away performance” after Port Vale cruised to an opening-day victory.

Two first-half goals from Michael Tonge and skipper Antony Kay put Vale in charge.

Dutchman Enzio Boldewijn reduced the arrears early in the second half, but substitute Dan Turner sealed the points with his first goal for the club.

Brown was delighted with the desire shown by his men and said: “It was a fantastic away performance. It was a tough game, Crawley moved the ball well in the second half and pinned us back, but we have talked about desire and we got the rewards.

“We’ve seen the good and bad of our side already, but we’ll go away with the points – that’s the most important thing.

“Our energy levels are still not there, but we hope to have another signing in by Monday.”

Former Leeds, Liverpool and Australia winger Harry Kewell (inset) could not hide his disappointment after his first game in football league management ended in a home defeat. The new Crawley head coach fumed: “I’m angry, disappointed and furious, but it is part and parcel of the game. “It could have been better. You talk about a game of two halves and we knew exactly what Port Vale would bring with their dangerous set pieces. “In the first-half we played their game, but the boys woke up in the second half. “In the moments when we do play good football, we need to capitalise and score goals.”