Two minute guide to: York City
Ahead of Saturday’s League Two clash, OVF presents our quick guide to Port Vale’s latest opponents whom the Valiants face on Saturday afternoon.
Lest we forget
Prior to the game, Vale fans will witness the long-awaited unveiling of the Roy Sproson statue.
Man in charge
Gary Mills took over in 2010 and led the side back into the Football League after a play-off final win in 2012. His overall record for York is 55 win, 25 losses and 37 draws.
Last time we met
The teams last met five years ago in 1997. The two teams were drawn together in a two-legged League Cup tie. The second game ended 1-1 with Lee Mills scoring a last minute equaliser for Vale, but York went through 3-2 on aggregate after winning the first leg 2-1.
Overall record
Port Vale hold the advantage with 19 wins to York’s 17. There have been 11 draws. York’s last league victory at Vale Park was back in 1986 when they won 3-2.
Featured connection
Gary Ford was purchased (with part of the proceeds from the sale of Andy Jones) by John Rudge in 1987 for a £35,000 fee from Leicester. He played a key part in Vale’s excellent start to their promotion season of 1988/89 but tore a ligament in November and sat out most of the rest of the promotion campaign, going to Walsall on loan in March. He was a regular in Vale’s return to the second division before he moved to Mansfield in 1991 for £80,000 (Rudge once again showing his transfer acumen with a profit of £45,000). In total he made 91 appearances, scoring 13 goals. Ford began his career at York City in 1979 making over 350 league appearances before a £25,000 move to Leicester.
Other connections
Other players to appear for both sides include Simon Mills, Jon McCarthy, Scott Brown, Leon Constantine, Christian Smith, Lewis McMahon, Alex Mathie, Peter Swan and Neville Southall. Vale playing legend Martin Foyle has also managed both sides.
Team news
John McCombe is back from suspension and could replace Joe Davis at the back. Finally, Richard Duffy is set to be ruled fit for the game and could replace Adam Yates at right-back.
Skipper Doug Loft is rated as 50/50 for this game. winger Ashley Vincent is suspended and could be replaced by Ryan Lloyd.
The visitors will be without suspended midfielder Scott Kerr, who should be replaced by Danny Parslow.
But on-loan striker Alex Rodman will return to contention but fellow forward Oli Johnson is not expected to be included due to illness.
Pre-match quotes
“They are going to cause us real problems and we have got to be on our game to combat their strengths.”
– Micky Adams
“Are we playing well? Yes. We’ve had one bad game, so performance-wise I think generally we’ve been very good, I really do.”
– Gary Mills