Vale looking to progress on competition
Mark Grew remained tight-lipped regarding any changes made for the visit of Bury in the Johnstone’s PaintTrophy tonight, but he is confident whatever side Vale put out will go all guns blazing for a win.
He said: “The ones who do come in all know what the gaffer wants tonight, he wants total commitment, one hundred and ten percent work rate as a unit.
“He has told them, whoever plays tonight, if they get the result then they give themselves a good chance for Saturday.
“We knew the side yesterday but wanted to keep it to ourselves. We wanted to work on a few things yesterday in training because if you intend to make changes you want to give those lads a chance to blend together.
“We are putting out a side who we feel will have a good chance of winning the game and at the same time it gives people opportunities.
Having tasted success in the competition back in 2001, Grew is well aware of getting a taste of success in a big final and despite never getting the chance to play at Wembley himself, he wants the players to get that opportunity.
He said: “We take this competition very seriously, because realistically it is the only chance we will get to play at Wembley, unless of course we can get into the play-offs.
“We want to get as far as we can. We had a great day at the Millennium Stadium in 2001, that was a brilliant day and something I will never forget, and neither will the lads who played in it, so we are taking this competition seriously.”
Vale will definitely be taking tonight’s opponents, Bury, seriously and judging by reports coming back from their 4-1 win over Cheltenham at the weekend, Vale will need to be on their toes tonight.
Grew explained: “Jimmy B ell went to watch them on Saturday and he has made the lads fully aware of their work rate and team spirit.
“Obviously winning games of football gives you that confidence and they look full of confidence, so if we think we are going to turn up tonight and have an easy match I think we will be in for a shock.
“But we have already gone over that and the lads are aware of what to expect and hopefully we should be good enough to win the tie.
“We are not sure whether or not they intend to play squad players until we see their team sheet tonight.
“But if he (Kevin Blackwell) is serious and he wants to go through, maybe he will keep the same eleven, we will have to wait and see, but the report that came back on Saturday said they were excellent.”