Match preview: Scunthorpe United v Port Vale (Carabao Cup)
It’s the first competitive game of the season and the first “proper” Port Vale game to take place behind closed doors. We preview the Carabou Cup game against Scunthorpe…
Match details:
Teams: Scunthorpe Utd v Port Vale
Competition: Carabao Cup first round
Venue: Glanford Park
Kick-off: Saturday 5th September, 3pm
How to watch:
First off, let’s deal with watching this behind closed doors game. It will be available to watch on the iFollow service through the following link
Form guide:
John Askey’s side have enjoyed a good pre-season with three consecutive victories against League One (Rochdale and Fleetwood) and Championship (Nottingham Forest) sides.
It’s not been an as successful a summer for the home side. They were well beaten 4-0 by Lincoln City and have been defeated by Watford in their last friendly. They did at least have the consolation of a win over a Nottingham Forest U23 side.
Port Vale team news:
It looks like injuries will dictate the Port Vale line-up. Manny Oyeleke is definitely out while James Gibbons is also set to miss out with Zak Mills making his debut at right-back. Mark Cullen , Cristian Montano and Scott Brown are also recovering from knocks which in Brown’s case may mean that Vale play summer signing Dino Visser in goal. Meanwhile, veteran Tom Pope is suspended. Here’s our “total guesswork” starting XI:
Visser – Mills, Smith, Legge, Fitzpatrick – Joyce, Burgess, Conlon – Worrall, Rodney, Amoo
Opposition team news:
Opponents Scunthorpe have some serious injuries of their own. Chief among them is a long-term injury to last season’s top scorer Kevin van Veen while Olufela Olomola is out for ten weeks.
It’s been a busy summer for Scunthorpe. Newcomers include Yeovil forward Myles Hippolyte, loanee defender Tyler Corden from Bournemouth, Dagenham defender Emmanuel Onariase, Luton Town striker Luke Jarvis, Ross County midfielder Lewis Spence and Aston Villa striker Kelsey Mooney. Meanwhile, eleven players departed including James Perch, Adam Hammill, Levi Sutton and Rory McArdle. Scunthorpe have also appointed a new manager in Neil Cox.
In recent days, Scunthorpe have boosted their forward ranks with the additions of German forward Kenan Dunnwald-Turan and former Leicester striker Ryan Loft. Both could be in contention for this game.
Man in charge:
Neil Cox replaced Paul Hurst as Scunthorpe manager this summer. Cox was working as assistant manager at National League side Notts County. The former defender is from Scunthorpe and started his playing career with the club. He has a local connection after having a spell in charge of Leek Town.
Match officials:
Neil Hair will be the man in the middle for the Carabao Cup first round clash on Saturday. He’s taken charge of the Valiants three times before, with one win sandwiching a draw either side. In the first two matches, he dismissed a Vale player in each – James Gibbons and Leon Legge both receiving straight red cards. On Saturday, he will be assisted by Christopher Ward and Oliver Bickle, while Thomas Parsons has been appointed as the fourth official.
Connections:
Port Vale summer signing Theo Robinson (right) could face one of the sides where he spent a loan spell.
Robinson joined the Iron on loan in 2015 when he scored three goals in eight appearances.
Pre-match quote:
It’s a real good feel factor that has been going really since last year. We just hope we can keep it going on the pitch because, at the end of the day, that’s the most important thing – that we do it on the pitch for them…
Port Vale manager John Askey
Last time we met:
The last time the two sides met competitively was in February when it finished 2-2 at Vale Park. Mark Cullen and Nathan Smith (right) were the goalscorers for the Valiants.
The two sides have met just once in the League Cup – back in 2009 when it finished 2-0 to Scunthorpe.
However, Vale have to go back FIFTEEN games to their last away win over Scunthorpe which occurred way back in 1973.
Listen to a preview:
You’ve read our efforts, but you can also preview the match on the popular Ale & the Vale podcast. It’s available on Apple, Google, and Spotify podcasts and also available at https://aleandthevale.podbean.com
Top image background: Steve Daniels by creative commons licence