Rotherham Utd v Port Vale preview – will Darrell Clarke rotate his squad at Rotherham?

Details:

Rotherham Utd v Port Vale. Football League Trophy

Vale Park stadium

Tuesday 30th November, 7pm

Last time we met?

The two sides last met back in 2014 when the League One encounter ended in a 1-0 home win for Rotherham. However, Vale did win the home game 2-0 thanks to goals from Louis Dodds and Gavin Tomlin. The two sides have met once in the cup – that 2005 League Cup game ended in a 3-1 win for Rotherham.

Overall record:

25 Vale wins, 19 draws and 24 defeats.

The Valiants have a lengthy injury list at the moment but nevertheless, Darrell Clarke is still expected to make some changes from the side which defeated Hartlepool United.

Those who are expected to miss out through injury include Jamie Proctor, James Wilson, George Lloyd and Jake Taylor.

Darrell Clarke could give starts to keeper Aidan Stone, loanee Dennis Politic, defender Mal Benning and veteran Leon Legge, who were all on the bench on Saturday. There’s also an outside chance of Scott Burgess, out in the cold at the start of the season, but now back in the first-team squad, featuring in the game. Burgess forced his way into the reckoning in 2019 after a strong performance against Macclesfield in the Football League Trophy – could he do it again this season?

Man in charge: Paul Warne

• Age: 48
• Games in charge: 248
• Win ratio: 36%

The former midfielder brought his playing career to a close at Rotherham and was appointed manager in 2016 following the resignation of Kenny Jackett.

The opposition

The home side are in great form being unbeaten in all competitions since September. They scored fifteen goals in their three Football League group games. Gulp!

Form (all competitions) :

Top scorer (all competitions):

Smith (13)

Port Vale striker Jamie Proctor will miss a chance to show his former club what they are missing as he is sidelined with injury. The Valiants signed the well travelled forward in the summer after he was released by United. During his four year stay he’d made 29 appearances and scored five goals as well as undertaking three loan spells out of the club.

Proctor was enjoying a great start to his career with the Valiants, scoring seven goals before a hernia operation put him on the sidelines. Sadly for the experienced striker, he has now has to have a second op on the issue which will rule him out for longer than initially expected.

Well, we need look no further than Port Vale cult hero Tom Pope, the club’s post-war record goalscorer. Pope enjoyed great success during two spells with the Valiants, making a total of 343 appearances and scoring 15 goals. In addition, he was top-scorer when the club was promoted in 2013 and he was also named the player of the year on three separate occasions.

His spell at Rotherham United was less successful. The striker scored just six times in 29 games for the club during a two year spell.

However, Pope at least got a chance to show his former club what they were missing when he scored four times against them during Vale’s 2012-13 promotion campaign!

The club was founded in 1925 as a merger between Rotherham County and Rotherham Town. The club joined the Football League that year and its honours include being runners-up in the 1961 League Cup final. United moved to the New York Stadium, a 12,004 capacity all-seater stadium, in 2012, having previously played at Millmoor for 101 years.

Quiz answers (no cheating):

1. Jamie Proctor
2. Paul Warne
3. 1925
4. 101