Micky Adams is aware of Oxford's struggle to impress on home soil
Micky Adams is expecting another difficult game when his side take on an Oxford United side fresh from a one-nil win over leaders Gillingham in mid-week, but he is also aware that Chris Wilder’s side have not been at their best at the Kassam Stadium.
The Vale boss said: “They went to Gillingham and beat hem, which was great from our perspective having lost ourselves, and you would think they drew a bit of confidence from that.
“Having said that, their best performances this year have been away from home, which sounds familiar.
“They will be buoyed that they did the top team in the division and they will want to do the second team now and we will have to be on our toes.
“We are second in the table and I am not looking at the teams below us, I am looking at Gillingham. I’m not bothered about what is happening below us, I want to catch Gillingham.
“My focus tomorrow is to get three points and to have a better few days than we have had in the last few days and then look forward to the next game.
“We haven’t had an easy game all season and in the final throws of the season that will continue because teams have still got an awful lot to play for.
“Two, three or four wins, as other teams have done in and around us, gets you back into whatever frame you are in. It gets you out of the relegation places, or back in the play-off places or challenging for the top three.
“The season has still got an awful long way to run and Oxford are still in with a chance of achieving their objectives that they set out to do at the beginning of the season.
“We are in a great position and we will continue to strive to try and get as many wins as we can out of the final twelve games.”
Vale are hoping to be more or less at full strength, but will have to wait until Saturday morning before a final decision is made on one of their key defenders.
Micky said: “Joe Davis won’t feature, he hasn’t trained all week, Liam Chilvers is back in the squad and Daniel Jones was sent home today with a stomach problem, but everybody else is raring to go again.
“We will wait to see how Daniel jones goes on before making a decision. He has been one of our better players, so we will give him as much time as he needs, but if he’s not fit we will alter it again.”