Team News:
The Colchester United game saw the return of Jamie Stephens, Shaquile Coulthirst and John Akinde, who will all be looking to make the team come Saturday.
Jamal Campbell-Ryce is still a doubt for the fixture after picking up a knock in the warm-up against Blackburn Rovers.
Curtis Weston is still recovering from his injury, with his rehabilitation going well over the past few weeks.
Richard Brindley (foot), Elliott Johnson (knee) and Dave Tarpey (knee) are all still out with their long-term injuries.
Last Time We Met:
The last fixture between the two sides was on the 9th February 2013 at Underhill, both sides picking up a point in a 0-0 draw.
Player/Manager Edgar Davids was in the side but was replaced by Curtis Weston after 81 minutes, picking up a booking after just six minutes on the pitch.
A scrappy game which saw Liam Chilvers (16’), Sam Morsy (66’) and Doug Loft (73’) all picking up yellow cards for the away side, but no one could find the piece of magic they needed.
Manager:
Gateshead born Neil Aspin is the current manager at Vale Park and has only been in charge a number of weeks. A defender who had long spells at Port Vale and Leeds United made around 700 professional appearances. He has managed at Harrogate, AFC Halifax and more recently Gateshead, before joining Port Vale in October.
Dangerman:
Forward Tom Pope is currently in his second spell at Vale Park, his first coming back in 2011.
Pope initially moved on loan, making 13 league appearances, scoring three goals and providing two assists. This was enough for him to make the switch from Rotherham United permanent.
During this four-year spell, he made over 180 appearances across all competitions, chipping in with an impressive 66 goals and 31 assists. He picked up the top scorer award for League Two in 2013, after 31 goals for the club, beating the next best Jamie Cureton by a solid ten.
After a two-year spell at Bury, he re-joined the Valiants at the start of this season, making 20 appearances so far, this season, with eight goals and three assists to his name.
With plenty of experience in the Football League, there’s no reason why Pope can’t be the man to make the difference for Port Vale on Saturday.
Last Time Out:
In their last fixture, Port Vale drew 1-1 with Newport County at Rodney Parade.
Matty Dolan put the home side ahead after 54 minutes before Anton Forrester equalised for the Valiants ten minutes for the end.
Port Vale climbed up to 20th, while Newport missed the chance to climb into the playoffs, staying 8th.
Ticket info:
Supporters can find out more about tickets details here.
Keep up with the game:
Full match commentary from every game is available on iFollow. If you are based outside of the UK & Ireland, you can watch the game live on iFollow.
You can also get live match updates on Twitter throughout the afternoon. We are also on Facebook and will go behind the scenes on our Instagram.
