Port Vale will welcome Oldham Athletic to Vale Park this afternoon as they aim to extend their unbeaten home run to eight games. After securing their first away win of the season on Tuesday, the Valiants will be hoping they can make it two wins in a row as they climb the table. You can find all of the key information regarding the game, below.
Fixture: Port Vale vs Oldham Athletic
Competition: Sky Bet League Two
Date: Saturday 25th October 2019
Kick-Off: 3:00 pm
Venue: Vale Park
Referee: Robert Lewis
Port Vale
Manager: John Askey
Form: DWLDW
Top Goal Scorer: Richie Bennett (4 goals)
The Vale have had an exciting start to the week picking up their first league win on the road for this season against high flying Bradford City and will be hoping to carry that form into today’s game and round off a great week for the club.
The morale in the side is high following Tuesday’s win and confidence is flowing with the team's home form of seven games unbeaten spurring them on as they continue their Play-Off position push.
The gaffer’s injury worries have been diminishing in recent weeks as players like David Amoo have been able to return fully to the first team. The Vale are still without Manny Oyeleke and Tom Conlon though as they remain sidelined with injuries. That aside, Askey has a fully fit squad to choose from.
“Whether we can get in the play-offs or not, only time will tell but I can't see any reason why we can’t compete with teams in this league.
John Askey, Port Vale Manager
Oldham Athletic
Manager: Dino Maamria
Form:LDLLW
Top Goal Scorer: Christopher Missilou (3 goals)
Oldham have had a difficult start to this season, with a string of poor results leaving them sat 20th in the league table, but after going five games in all competitions without a win they were able to defeat Walsall 2-0 at home on Tuesday.
The Lactics will be hoping that the win will start a run of results to see them get their season back on track, starting with an upset at Vale Park, building on the run of form they have built at the ground, having not lost there since 2014.
Unlike John Askey, Oldham manager Dino Maamria will have a fully fit squad to pick from for the game as he continues to settle in since moving from Stevenage.
One to watch: Christopher Missilou
Christopher Missilouis a 27 year-old French midfielder who began his career with French Ligue 1 side Auxerre before having spells at other sides such as Evry and Stade Brest before settling at Montceau Bourgogne where he became a mainstay in the side.
His performances earnt him a move to L’Entente SSG and Le Puy Foot before catching the eye of Oldham Athletic in 2018, where he has become an integral part to the team.
Missilou played a central role in Oldham’s 2-1 win over then Premier League Fulham in the 2018 FA Cup and found his way onto the score sheet in Paul Scholes’ first game in charge of the club.
The now Congo international, who represented the French under-18 side six times, has started this season in strong fashion, finding the back of the net three times and currently sits as the sides leading goalscorer.
Talk:
John Askey: “We’ve shown that we are more than capable of beating teams at the top, so if we can beat the teams at the top, there’s no reason why we can’t beat anybody, but its shown when we’ve played the likes of Morecambe and Stevenage that there’s not much difference between any team.”
Dino Maamria: “We've got Port Vale on Saturday and we know what they have got at home and we know that they've got a massive pitch and we've got to be physically and mentally ready and it's a positive night for us and we'll hopefully build on it."
Coverage:
iFollow The Vale will be providing full 90-minute commentary from the match, whilst the Port Vale Twitter and Facebook feeds will be providing live updates for the entirety.
There will also be the build-up to the game with the official Snapchat and Instagram accounts: officialpvfc
Reaction will be available on the official website post-match, as well as on YouTube, iFollow and social media.