The Valiants are back in action on Tuesday as we make the short trip to the Pirelli Stadium as we face Burton Albion in an Emirates FA Cup First Round Replay.
Vale come into the game off the back of a 1-1 draw against Lincoln City. Ben Garrity gave us the lead in the first half before former Valiant Olamide Shodipo levelled the scores in the 93rd minute to earn his side a point.
Crosby’s comments
Here’s what Andy Crosby had to say ahead of Tuesday nights fixture:
“We’ve got seven players ruled out through injury and another three players on international duty for an FA Cup replay. We’ve utilised the younger players and within the group, that’s what we’ll do again. We’ll try to be as competitive as we can be as I know we will be and we’ll try to play our game”
The Opposition
Since the Emirates FA Cup tie at Vale Park at the beginning of the month, Burton have lost both their games.
On Tuesday 7th November they were beaten 2-1 by Doncaster Rovers in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy. At the weekend they made the trip to Northampton Town and lost 2-0. Two second half goals from the Cobblers earned them all three points. After 17 games, The Brewers sit in 14th place with 20 points, one more than Vale, but having played one more game.
Player to watch - Cole Stockton
After picking up a nasty injury at the beginning of the season, Stockton is slowly making his way back to fitness. He played an half an hour at Vale Park after coming on as a substitute in our FA Cup First Round stalemate And was the player that came closest to scoring the only goal of the game when he broke down the left side and crashed an effort off the inside of the post.
Stockton is one of the EFL’s most prolific strikers of the last few seasons. The 29 year-old scored 59 times for Morecambe in his four year stint at the club. As a result of this, he was named in the PFA Team of the year for the 2021/22 season, he also won goal of the month and player of the month twice after scoring 23 goals over the course of the campaign.
Last time we met
Port Vale 0-0 Burton Albion, Saturday 4th November 2023.
The sides last met just ten days ago in the 0-0 draw at Vale Park. After dominating the early stages of the game, Vale came close to opening the scoring when Ben Garrity crashed a header off the cross bar.
The games talking point came in the 15th minute when Nathan Smith was shown a straight red card for bringing down Mark Helm when he was adjudged to be in on goal. From the resulting free kick Joe Powell thundered a strike off the top of the crossbar.
In the second half, Cole Stockton won the ball down the left side before cutting inside and crashing the inside of the post with an effort from just inside the box.
Despite being a man down, Vale had a chance to win it late on when Alfie Devine drove into the Burton half before sending in a low cross to Ryan Loft but his close range effort was well saved by Max Crocombe in the Brewers goal.