Gannon's squad has been severely affected by injuries in recent weeks

Port Vale manager Jim Gannon has said he will hasten his search for new players after watching his side lose 2-1 to local rivals Crewe on Saturday.

"I've identified a lot of targets," he told BBC Radio Stoke. "We have to bring people in because we need some energy and we need some fresh faces.

"It's not all going to be about getting more out of these players. We need to get some better players in."

Gannon has lost both matches since replacing Micky Adams on 6 January.

Vale lost 4-2 at Burnley in the third round of the FA Cup and then went down at the Alexandra Stadium to a late goal from Alex defender Adam Dugdale.

They are now two points outside the automatic promotion places in League Two, having topped the table for long periods earlier in the season.

"Are some players adaptable? Are they improvable? That's what I'm finding out," said Gannon.

"It would be too easy to say that it's my style of football that's made a change.

"You've got to remember that, before I took over, this team lost three games in a row and had struggled to finish off Burton. We've lost at Burnley and now we've lost at Crewe.

"They're conceding goals and they don't look like they're going to score enough goals so there's a larger problem here.

"We need to go back to basics and do things a lot better, we need better players in and everyone needs to improve as individuals before we improve as a team."

Injuries to key players have not helped Gannon, who gave teenager Sam Morsy his first start for the club on Saturday and named youngsters Joe Davis, Kristian Cox and Matthew Bell on the substitutes' bench.

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