Two minute guide to: Barnsley (H)
As Rob Page takes over from Micky Adams, here’s our quick guide to Saturday’s opponents Barnsley.
Port Vale
Manager: Rob Page (interim)
Last match: 0-3 vs Bristol City
Form guide: L-L-L-L-L
Barnsley
Manager: Danny Wilson
Last match: 0-0 vs Fleetwood
Form guide: D-L-W-D-W
Team news
Rob Page: in charge of the Valiants
After the dramatic departure of Micky Adams in midweek, Rob Page is interim manager and will remain so until the end of October. As for team news, all bets are off with the new man in charge. Page has plenty of options with Vale reporting a fully fit squad.
Barnsley trio James Bailey, Keith Treacy and Ross Turnbull could all return to contention at Vale Park.
With Page in charge, our guesswork starting eleven is even more of a “finger in the air” attempt. We think he won’t make too many changes so here goes with our prediction…
Neal
Yates – Duffy – McGivern – Dickinson (c)
Moore – Brown – O’Connor – Marshall
Pope – Slew
Pre-match quote
“For me now it is about approaching the game on Saturday and getting the boys mentally and physically ready for a tough game…”
– Interim manager Rob Page
Last time we met
Micky Cummins: Vale’s last scorer against Barnsley
The two sides last met back in 2006 when a Micky Cummins strike six minutes from the end, earned Vale a 1-1 draw at Oakwell.
Overall record
- Vale wins: 44
- Barnsley wins: 44
- Draws: 19
Trivia
Paynter: prolific against Barnsley
The match could be ideal for Rob Page as Vale haven’t lost at home to Barnsley since 1996. It’s a run of seven league and cup games unbeaten.
In fact, Vale are unbeaten against the Tykes in the last three seasons.
Billy Paynter (above) enjoyed a prolific time against Barnsley. The striker was on the mark four times in six appearances.
They played for both…
Dickinson: faces a former club
Vale skipper Carl Dickinson spent a spell at loan at Barnsley back in 2009-2010
There have been a number of other players to appear for both sides including:
Collins: was sold when Vale plunged into financial trouble
- Defender Lee Collins (above)
- Midfielder Sam Togwell
- Striker Marc Richards
- Winger Chris Shuker
- Defender Rob Kozluk
- Midfielder Robin van der Laan
- Midfielder Sean McClare
Brown will be the ‘boo’ boy…
Veteran midfielder Michael Brown will incur the wrath of Barnsley fans should he play on Saturday. Not only did Brown play for hated rivals Leeds United, but he was also involved in an unsavoury incident in 2012.
The Barnsley fans’ dislike of Brown centres on a tackle on Jacob Butterfield during Barnsley’s 4-1 New Year’s Day win over Leeds.
The tackle, which ruled Butterfield out for the season was labelled as malicious by the injured Tykes midfielder although he did add that Brown had contacted him to apologise.