Two minute guide to: Port Vale v Gillingham
Can Port Vale continue their fine home form by gunning down the Gills? Here’s our guide to the action…
In the picture: Leaving it late…
The story behind our choice of image we’ve chosen to lead the article with…
The 2014-15 encounters between the two sides were galling for Gills fans as Vale scored last-gasp goals in both fixtures.
The scorers were Colin Daniel (pictured celebrating in the home fixture which Vale won 2-1) and Michael Brown (in the away game which ended as a draw). YouTube clips of both games are below:
The two sides
Port Vale
- Manager: Bruno Ribeiro
- Last match: 2-2 vs Peterborough Utd
- Top scorer: Alex Jones (4)
Gillingham
- Manager: Justin Edinburgh
- Last match: 1-1 vs Bradford
- Top scorer: Jay Emmanuel-Thomas (5)
Match details
Venue:
Vale Park
Date:
17th September 2016, 3pm
Prices:
- Adults : £22 (£23 for Lorne St stand)
- Seniors: £17 (£18 for Lorne St stand)
- Juniors (18 to 21): £17 (£18 for Lorne St stand)
- Child (9-17): £10
- Under nines: Free
Pre-match thoughts
Jerome Thomas
Andy Smith
Team news
Anton Forrester (above) is Vale’s only injured player which gives Bruno Ribeiro plenty of choices. The main one will be who plays upfront. It could be the same three that played the majority of the game against Peterborough but Gezim Shalaj could also feature.
Possible Vale line-up:
Alnwick
Purkiss – Streete – Smith – Knops
Grant – Tavares
Foley
Shalaj – Jones – Thomas
Last time we met…
The Valiants ran out 2-0 winners at Priestfield thanks to early strikes from AJ Leitch Smith and Carl Dickinson. The fixture at Vale Park finished 1-1 with Louis Dodds scoring for Vale.
Overall record
Port Vale wins: 17
Port Vale losses: 15
Draws: 17
Form guide
Club connections
In recent years both Doug Loft and Ben Williamson have played for both clubs but let’s look a little further back… Central defender Gary West signed for Gillingham for £50,000 in 1987. In the 1988-89 season Vale were suddenly rocked by the loss of both centre-halves Phil Sproson and Bob Hazell to injury. Flush with cash from the Spurs cup run and desperate to continue their promotion run, Vale famously splashed a club record £200,000 on Dean Glover. But Glover was a playmaker and a slight figure, Vale still needed another signing…
John Rudge opted to pay £70,000 for West, his six foot two inch frame and no-nonsense style complementing Glover’s elegance and ball-play. West played fourteen games including the three play-off games that eventually saw Vale promoted.
He struggled with injuries in his second Vale season and was loaned back to Gillingham for a brief spell. In 1991, he joined Lincoln City for £25,000 but many Vale fans won’t care that West made less than 20 appearances and resulted in a £45,000 loss – it was more important that he got Vale over the finishing line and into the second flight for the first time in thirty years…
Vale stats: 17 games | 1 goal
Midfielder Billy Knott will face the Valiants while other players to appear for both clubs include:
- Midfielder Doug Loft
- Forward Ben Williamson
- Striker Gary Mulligan
- Midfielder Mel Machin
- Half-back Bert Carberry
- Midfielder Jeff Johnson
Did you know…
- This is the fiftieth competitive fixture between the two sides.
- Vale are unbeaten in their last three home games against the Gills
- The two sides first met in 1950 when it ended in a 1-1 draw
- Syd Peppitt scored Vale’s first goal against Gillingham