Two minute guide to: Newcastle Town
Here’s our brief preview of Port Vale’s first friendly of the summer – a traditional trip to Newcastle Town.
Match Essentials
Date: Saturday 11 July, 2:30pm kick-off
Ticket prices: Seating £8, standing £6, concessions £3
Port Vale
Manager: Rob Page
Last match: N/A
Recent form: N/A
Newcastle Town
Manager: Ivan Lodge
Last match: N/A
Recent form: N/A
Team News
Rob Page has made it clear that the opening friendly games will be a fitness exercise with players given 45 minutes to build-up their match stamina. With that in mind, Vale are likely to play all their summer purchases – Remie Streete, Ben Purkiss, Sam Kelly, Anthony Grant and Sam Foley. However, the main focus will be on the forwards. Vale have Louis Dodds, Achille Campion and youngster Jonathan Kapend in their ranks while trialist AJ Leitch-Smith will be aiming to impress.
The home side should include new signings Michael Lennon, Paris Bateman and keeper Danny Read.
Pre-match quote
“It’s going to be building the lads up to playing the amount of minutes they’re going to play, maybe a half each building up to an hour then getting 90 minutes under their belts…” – Rob Page
Last time we met…
As usual, Vale played Newcastle Town last summer. The Valiants ran out 6-0 winners with goals from Chris Lines, Colin Daniel, Ryan Lloyd (2), Ben Williamson and trialist Javan Vidal.
Club Connections
Van der Laan: connection with both clubs.
Former Vale legend Robin van der Laan is currently Director of Football at Newcastle.
There have been plenty of connections between the two clubs over the years, former Vale players Trevor Brissett and Ray Walker had spells as coach and manager respectively while former Vale players to appear for Town include Simon Eldershaw, Anthony Malbon and John Burndred.
Bluffer’s Guide
Essential facts about our opponents to impress your mates with…
- The original Newcastle Town (formed in 1964) ran into financial difficulties and the club as it is now emerged in 1986 following the merger of Parkway Clayton and Newcastle Town.
- If you’ve visited the Lyme Valley Stadium before you’ll be aware of the velodrome track which circles the pitch.
- The ground’s largest league attendance is 1,833 for the visit of FC United of Manchester in the 1996-97 season.
- In the same season, Newcastle reached the first round of the FA Cup, losing 0-2 to Notts County.
- They were promoted to the Northern Premier League First Division South for the 2010–11 season.