Two minute guide to Port Vale versus Oldham Athletic
Pressure is mounting as Port Vale host their second home fixture in succession…
Pre-match newsdesk
The pressure is certainly on with manager Neil Aspin aware of criticism from the Vale Park terraces. Aspin may look to Ben Whitfield (right) to spark the team into life after the winger impressed as a sub on Boxing Day. Cristian Montano may also be back from injury and ready to stake a claim.
Quotes
“Goals win games and at the moment we’re not scoring as much as we’d like, so we need to start scoring more goals, Popey can’t score them all.
“We need to make the most of our set-pieces because at the moment, we look a threat from set pieces but they’re not really falling for us.”
Port Vale defender Leon Legge
Man in charge
Former striker Frankie Bunn took over as manager in June and has now been in charge for 31 games.
Stats and facts
The two sides have met seventy nine times. Vale are just ahead courtesy of thirty two wins to twenty eight. The last time the two sides met was earlier this season when Vale won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Tom Pope (right).
Featured connections
The Valiants will come up against former loanee Peter Clarke (right)who was at Vale Park in 2003. Clarke joined Oldham in 2016 and now has over 600 career appearances.
Meanwhile Vale’s Cristian Montano will come up against one of his former clubs. Theo Vassell also had a spell at Oldham without making the first-team. Finally, David Worrall also had loan spelll with Oldham.
Crossing the lines
There are a large number of players who have played for both clubs in recent years including:
Midfielder Danny Whitaker (right)
Defender Gareth Owen
Left-back Dan Jones
Striker Lee Hughes