Port Vale vs Notts County Preview
Date - 2nd September 2017
Venue - Vale Park
Preview
Following Tuesday night's penalty shootout success against Oldham Athletic in the Checkatrade Trophy, Vale will be hoping to build on that with three points in Sky Bet League Two as Notts County make the trip to Vale Park.
After the 3-1 triumph over Crawley Town on the opening day of the 2017/18 season, Michael Brown's men haven't been able to add to their tally of three points and they now sit 21st in the league.
Despite that, some positive performances have been on display and the Valiants are in confident mood heading into the clash. A few changes could be made to the team that started the midweek fixture, however.
The Opposition
The Magpies currently sit in 7th place in Sky Bet League Two with 7 points to their name. An opening day defeat away to Coventry City meant it wasn't a great start for Kevin Nolan's men, but they are unbeaten in their last three league outings.
Wins over Chesterfield and Wycombe Wanderers were followed by a 2-2 draw with Accrington Stanley. Scunthorpe United did knock Notts County out of the Carabao Cup on penalties, but their recent good form also continued in the Checkatrade Trophy as they beat Everton's U21s.
Talk
Joe Davis:
"We will go away now, recover and get our legs back. The team will look into how the opposition play and we analyse that to give ourselves the best chance of getting a result.
"It's just about recovery now, that's the first thing on our minds, but we are ready to go again on Saturday."
Kevin Nolan:
"We've now got a squad with a lot of quality, with players pushing each other for places in the team and on the bench.
"We're hoping to go to Port Vale and give a good account of ourselves, as we did against Wycombe."
Team News
Vale will most likely make changes to the line-up that featured at Oldham Athletic last time out. Michael Brown made seven rotations for that game and some of the players who started could drop to the bench as the Valiants return to League action.
Goalkeeper Rob Lainton could be in contention to return to the team after an injury problem, but striker Tyrone Barnett is still sidelined. Rekeil Pyke will also face a race to be fit after he picked up a hamstring injury last time out.
Former Vale man Michael O'Connor remains an absentee for Notts County as the midfielder recovers from surgery on his knee that will keep him out until at least 2018.
Coverage
iFollow The Vale will be providing full 90 minute commentary from the match, while the Port Vale Twitter and Facebook feed will be providing live updates for the entirety.
There will also be build-up to the game with the official Snapchat account: officialpvfc.
Reaction will be available on the official website post-match, as well as on YouTube, iFollow and social media.