ASPIN’S KEEPING TABS ON THE HEED

IT may be three months since Neil Aspin left Gateshead, but it seems the Port Vale manager is still keeping a keen interest on the North East. Northern League Division One club Whitley Bay confirmed this week that winger Alex Kempster was on trial at the League Two club. And Aspin has been credited with an interest in Luke Hannant, a player he took to Gateshead during his twoyear stay at the International Stadium. Despite playing 90 minutes for the Valliants’ reserves on Tuesday, setting up a goal and scoring one in a 2-0 win against their Bradford City counterparts, Aspin has confirmed Kempster won’t be offered a deal and has now returned to Whitley Bay. However, the Valliants boss admitted the club will continue to monitor the 22-year-old winger, along with another trialist from the North-East. Speaking to the Stoke Sentinel, Aspin said: “We have had two lads from the North East this week just to have a look at them. They have both acquitted themselves well, but I couldn’t sign them and put them straight into the first team so there is no point in spoiling their careers at the moment. “Once you have seen a player, you have an idea of what he is like. But I think both lads need to play. They are both playing well down the pyramid at the moment, they need to be playing at a higher level consistently before they could probably make the step up to league football.” Gateshead midfielder Hannant is another player from the North-East that has been linked with a move to Vale Park. Aspin plucked the midfielder from Northern League club Team Northumbria and handed him a professional contract at the International Stadium. Hannant has impressed for the Heed this season, and Aspin admitted he has thought about the young midfielder, but is wary of ruining his “good relationship” with his former club. “He has been in my thoughts possibly since I left Gateshead, but I have a good relationship with Gateshead and the chairman. I don’t really want to be taking players off them. “If we were to sign him now we would have to pay a transfer fee. He would be out of contract at the end of the season so he is maybe someone we can wait on. But then you are running the risk that, if he does well, other clubs might be alerted. “You are just trying to weigh everything up. But I have a good relationship with Gateshead and wouldn’t want to do anything that would spoil that.”