Port Vale manager suggests youngsters may be given a chance in final games

Port Vale manager Darrell Clarke has praised young duo Tommy McDermott and James Plant and hinted that the pair could be handed some game time in the final games of the season.

McDermott impressed during last summer, earning a long-term professional contract and starting the season in the first-team. So far, he has made four starts and one sub appearance. Plant has also made three sub appearances in the Football League Trophy campaign.

Both players are currently on loan with Salisbury where they have impressed and Clarke told the Sentinel newspaper: “It is all about winning, it is always about winning football games. We are not (at) a development stage as in results don’t matter. I never look at it that way. You can’t look at it like that as a first-team manager.

“But there might be one or two opportunities. Will Forrester has come into the team and done very well, James Plant and Tommy McDermott are doing very well on loan. There might be opportunities for one or two coming into the team from now to the end of the season.

“We will look at it on a game to game basis but at the minute it is beneficial that those two are out playing men’s football and keeping their match fitness up, so we will see.”