Pre-Season 2018/19: Who are the Vale playing friendlies against?
We all might have World Cup fever at the moment but it won’t be long before Vale fans will be back down at Vale Park getting behind Neil Aspin’s men.
Pre-season is always a good indicator of where a team is at, with The Valiants getting their campaign underway on July 6 with a trip over to Redditch. The club will face seven teams before the League Two season kicks off at the beginning of August, where most bookies are predicting a mid-table finish.
Last season saw the club survive by a point, and are priced at around 9/1 to face the drop next season. They’re priced at 1/25 to stay up with some bookies, although it is worth checking some bookmaker reviews for the best odds. They’ve made some good signings so far, and we’ll get to see how they settle in, in just over a week’s time. Perhaps the bookies are underplaying Vale’s chances?
A 7.45pm kick off is scheduled for the Redditch game, a fixture organised as part of the Dior Angus deal, before the club also take a trip to Kidsgrove Athletic the following day at 3pm.
Things start to become a little more testing the following week when Vale Park hosts its first pre-season game of the season, welcoming Championship side Blackburn. That’s a 3pm kick off on July 14 before Vale head up north to Halifax on July 17.
The final run in or pre-season games sees two home fixtures before their final game away at Newcastle Town, a week before the first game of the season.
Aspin’s first home tie of the final three is against Blackpool, which will be a good test, particularly for new lads Idris Kanu and Theo Vassell. The former looks an exciting young attacker, joining on loan from Peterborough and will add options alongside Tom Pope and former Redditch man Dior Angus.
The penultimate friendly will see Shrewsbury Town as visitors, the day before the Newcastle fixture on July 19. The Shrews finished third in League One last season and will be another big test alongside Blackburn, who achieved automatic promotion in the division.
Ticket information will be out in due course according to the club and a full set of fixtures can be found below…
- July 6, 2018, 7.45pm: Redditch United (A)
- July 7, 2018, 12.30pm: Kidsgrove Athletic (A)
- July 14, 2018, 3pm: Blackburn Rovers (H)
- July 17, 2018, 7.15pm: Halifax Town (A)
- July 21, 2018, 3pm: Blackpool (H)
- July 28, 2018, 3pm: Shrewsbury Town (H)
- July 29, 2018, 3pm: Newcastle Town (A)