Port Vale manager Darren Moore says that defender Nathan Smith has a “huge part to play” in the rest of the season after his man of the match performance in mid-week.
Smith, a regular since 2016, was making only his second appearance of the season in the Football League Trophy group game with Wrexham but he received a standing ovation when he was named man of the match by the sponsors. Moore was asked about the player’s role in the team and was quick to reiterate that Smith is still a very important player at the club.
Here’s what Moore had to say in his press conference…
On Nathan Smith…
He’s a valuable member of the team and the squad. Nathan will play a huge part this season. We’re really pleased we have a centre-back of Nathan’s quality and experience. For those who are wondering why Nathan hasn’t been around the team since pre-season… Nathan had a personal situation that he had to be around his family. He was and everything’s fine and we’re really pleased about that. Nathan’s just had to be patiently waiting for his opportunity. Nathan’s been training incredibly well and he’s been focussed and waiting for his opportunity. We felt that the other night was the right game to put him in. What an excellent performance of stature, maturity, focus, detail, solidness – all the things you want from a central defender, Nathan was all those. Credit to him….
On bouncing back from the loss to Gillingham…
We looked at last week’s game and we think as a group we weren’t quite at the levels. I was really pleased with the way the players acquitted themselves during the (Wrexham) game. It (the penalty shootout win) just brought a little bit of that feelgood factor back into the building…
On Rakeem Harper…
The Vale fans saw what he can bring to us. He’s got wonderful soft feet, he moves well across the pitch, he can spot a pass, he can move with the ball… I thought for the sixty odd minutes he was on the pitch he did really well. There were lots of parts of his game that I really liked…
On injuries…
Good news on all of them. George (Byers) is nearly back and around the first-team. He’s back on the pitch. Kyle John is back in and Mitch Clark’s just been given the all-clear. All it’s about now is getting some volume into them…
On Morecambe…
Saturday’s game will be different to Priestfield. They have got a real experienced manager in Derek and they got an outstanding result at a difficult place, Harrogate. We are looking forward to the game but it will be a different game…
With all players fit, there isn’t another League 2 club that can match the Vale squad’s strength in depth. All areas are covered for the inevitable injuries and suspensions.