Grew warns Vale face a difficult task against Forest Green Rovers
Vale will be without stand in skipper John McCombe for the next three matches following his sending off at Northampton last weekend.
Thankfully Micky Adams can now play with two recognised centre defenders against Forest Green Rovers tomorrow after both Joe Davis and Clayton McDonald recovered from knocks.
Assistant boss Mark Grew acknowledges the fact that McCombe will be missed and also praised the part played by midfielder Kingsley James, who played in the heart of the Vale defence for the second forty-five minutes at the Sixfields Stadium.
He said: “John is going to be a massive loss to us. It has come at the wrong time, but we said a few weeks ago things are going to happen, there are going to be blips and unfortunately it is starting to raise its head.
“We have got to cope with it and luckily Clayton McDonald is back and we have got Joe Davis, so we have got two central defenders, but if we get any other injuries then we have got problems.
“To be fair to Kingsley James, he did a fantastic job at Northampton last weekend, but he’s not a centre half, and we are just grateful that Clayton and Joe Davis have just come through knocks.
“None of them trained on Monday. We kept them out as a precaution and made sure everything was okay and they have trained the rest of the week.
“We have had to cut it down in training a little bit, in the sense of the physical side of things, because obviously we couldn’t afford to get any more injuries.”
The FA Cup is a competition in which Vale would like to do well this season, but Saturday’s match at The New Lawn will be prove to be a tricky hurdle for Adams’ men.
“I have made phone calls to different managers this week and they have all said what a good side they are, a hard-working side and a good footballing side.
“It makes for a banana skin really. There are always a couple of results that are seen as upsets and we have got to make sure we aren’t one of those.
the nest round and it is important we go there and be confident. We had a blip against Northampton, but I am sure if john McCombe hadn’t have been sent off we would have got a result.” “We want to be in the hat for the draw to