Two minute guide to: Fleetwood (A)
It’s Rob Page’s second away game as interim Port Vale manager and we take a look at his opponents Fleetwood Town.
Port Vale
Manager: Rob Page (interim)
Last match: 1-1 vs Bradford City
Form guide: D-W-L-L-L
Fleetwood
Manager: Graham Alexander
Last match: 0-1 vs Peterborough
Form guide: L-D-D-L-L
Team news
Rob Page: hoping to maintain recent form
The Valiants are expected to be unchanged after being unbeaten in Rob Page’s interim reign. New loan signings Stephane Zubar and Reiss Greenidge will probably have to settle for a place on the bench at best.
Fleetwood forward Liam McAlinden is in line for his debut after joining on loan from Championship side Wolves. Midfielders Keith Southern and Jeff Hughes could also be in the squad after returning from injury.
Neal
Yates – Duffy – McGivern – Dickinson (c)
Dodds – Lines – O’Connor – Marshall
Pope – Slew
Pre-match quote
“Certainly from their point of view at home they will come right at us, there will be stages of the game where we will have to weather the storm. But then there’s enough quality in our changing room to hurt them as well so as long as we’re organised and hard working…”
– Rob Page
Last time we met
Louis Dodds: scored twice against Fleetwood
Vale acquired a very impressive 5-2 away victory in 2012 thanks to braces for Tom Pope and Louis Dodds.
Overall record
- Vale wins: 1
- Fleetwood wins: 1
- Draws: 0
Trivia
Pope: hoping to end recent drought
Should he play, this will mark the 200th league start of Louis Dodds’ professional career.
Tom Pope will be hoping to end an eight game goal drought, his longest since the 2012-13. But then again, as he notched 33 that season, should we be that worried?
They played for both…
There are only three players that we know of who have played for both clubs. They are:
- Self-proclaimed “best player at the club” Paul Edwards (right)
- Midfielder Scott Brown
- Midfielder Phil Charnock
On this day – cup progress
On the same day – 4th October – as this match, 124 years ago, the Valiants (then Burslem Port Vale) were engaged in FA Cup qualifying action.
They played Warwick County, a short-lived outfit that folded the next year and won 3-1. In the same round of the competition were teams such as Ipswich Town, Sheffield United and Middlesbrough. But there were also a number of more exotic outfits. These included – the 93rd Highway Regiment (who progressed to the first round proper), Northern Ireland’s Cliftonville, a local derby between Darlington West End and Darlington St Hilda’s (West End won) and the wonderfully named Bishop Auckland Church Institute.
Vale faced old rivals Walsall (then Walsall Town Swifts) in the next round – and true to form – Walsall won!