In 2000, he moved on to Port Vale and made over 250 appearances for the club in a six-year stay, picking up a Football League Trophy winners medal in 2001.
[4] He made his Premier League debut under Bryan Robson on 16 May 1999, playing the full ninety minutes of a 4–0 defeat to West Ham United at Upton Park.
[6][7] He scored three goals throughout the campaign, including the opener of the 2–1 victory over Stoke City in the Football League Trophy Northern Section semi-finals.
[14] Having made a total of 287 league and cup appearances for Port Vale, scoring 34 goals, he decided to relocate to the North East for family reasons.
[16] He quickly became a regular in the first-team for the "Quakers", making 45 league and cup appearances in the 2006–07 season despite suffering from a groin problem.
[17][18] Darlington knocked Championship side Stoke City out of the League Cup in August 2006, and finished the season in mid-table.
[21] However, following Darlington's failure to gain promotion out of League Two in the 2007–08 season, Cummins was released by manager Dave Penney.
Released by Rotherham,[25] Cummins signed a one-year deal with Neil Woods' Grimsby Town in June 2010.
[26][27] He played a total of 40 games for the Conference Premier side in 2010–11, scoring one goal in a 2–0 win over Luton Town at Blundell Park.
[28] Though Woods was keen to sign him to a longer contract,[29] Cummins left the club at the end of the campaign after he was released by new management duo Rob Scott and Paul Hurst.
He also scored two goals at the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship in Malaysia; he found the net in a 2–1 win over the United States and a 1–1 draw with China at the group stage held at the Darul Aman Stadium in Alor Setar.
[38] In July 2014, Cummins was appointed joint reserve and youth team coach at Gateshead, alongside Paul Bryson.
[44] Watson again appointed Cummins as his assistant when he took the management role at National League North side York City in January 2019.