Match Preview: Cheltenham Town v Port Vale, November 30 2019
A place in the FA Cup third round is the prize for the winner of this cup clash. We preview the action…
Team news
Vale have been hit by a key absences for this game as forward David Worrall is suspended. Contenders to replace Worrall are Rhys Browne or possibly Mark Cullen. The Valiants are otherwise expected to be unchanged with Cristian Montano continuing as left-back in the absence of the injured Adam Crookes. Manny Oyeleke remains a long-term absentee.
Stats
The clubs last met back in February this year when the Valiants lost 1-0 at Cheltenham. The Vale haven’t won at Cheltenham since 2006 so this weekend would be a good time to notch up another win. The last goal scorer against Cheltenham was veteran Antony Kay (pictured right) who netted a last-gasp equaliser in a 2-2 draw in 2018.
The overall record is:
Opposition Guide
Managed by Michael Duff, Cheltenham sit just above the Valiants in the League Two table and reached this round by defeating neighbours Swindon Town in a replay. Scott Flinders is the regular goalkeeper while midfielder Ben Tozer will be known to many Valiants. The experienced Luke Varney is another familiar face upfront. Varney is joint top-scorer with Ryan Broom.
Connections
Scott Brown will be returning to a club where he spent nine years and made almost 300 senior appearances. Facing him could be Charlie Raglan who had two spells at the Valiants.
Other players to appear for both sides in recent years include Tyrone Barnett, Ryan Inniss, Ashley Vincent and Kaid Mohamed.
Pre-match quote
“It’s a massive competition history-wise, and it creates a lot of interest, if we can get a win on Saturday then the third round is where you want to be, for ourselves, the players, supporters, we want to be in the third round.They’re a strong team, Cheltenham, well organised and difficult to play at home, but as we say every week, whoever we play then we’ve got a chance, if we can play anything like, then there’s no reason we can’t go through….
Port Vale manager John Askey (right)
Memory match
The 2013 game between the two sides was a five goal thriller with the Valiants triumphing 3-2. Tom Pope (pictured right) was the Vale hero with a hat-trick while future Vale player Kaid Mohamed scored for the visitors.