We return to Vale Park on Tuesday night as we welcome Harrogate Town to Burslem.
The Valiants come into the game off the back of a 1-1 draw against Tranmere Rovers at the weekend which saw us maintain our unbeaten start to 2025.
The hosts took the lead through Kristian Dennis in the 18th minute, before Ronan Curtis levelled the scores just ten minutes later to earn a share of the points in Birkenhead.
Gaffer's Thoughts
Here’s what Darren Moore had to say following Saturday’s draw at Prenton Park:
“It was scrappy from both teams really. We knew it would be this type of game but thought, if we could get through the first half an hour, it would settle down.
“I thought, after regrouping at half time, if we could get through the first ten minutes of the second half and settle the game down, there were areas we could exploit.”
“But although we got into those areas, there was mis-control, poor decisions, lack of detail or quality on the ball, and getting into the final third but not really executing our finishes.
The gaffer also touched on Tuesday night’s fixture:
“We’re nine unbeaten, but we’re just looking to the next game. We have got consistency, but today it was lacking in areas. We didn’t win the game; we didn’t lose the game. The boys are mentally in a good spot, physically in a fantastic spot. What we have to do is continue that and move onto the next one.”
The Opposition
Harrogate Town come into the game in 20th place, four places and seven points above the drop zone.
In their last outing, The Sulphurites beat fellow strugglers Accrington Stanley 2-1 in a big game at the bottom of League Two. Jasper Moon gave Harrogate the lead after 20 minutes. Five minutes after the break, Stanley hit back when Josh Woods found a leveller. However, this was cancelled out eight minutes later when Josh March scored what turned out to the winning goal in North Yorkshire.
Harrogate don’t have a great record on the road this season. In their 17 away fixtures, they have lost ten, drawn four and won only three games. Their last win away from home came on the 4th January when they ran out 2-0 winners at Barrow.
Who’s In Charge?
Harrogate Town manager Simon Weaver is son of Harrogate chairman, Irving Weaver. The 47-year-old is the longest serving manager in the top four divisions of the EFL after he was appointed at player/manager in 2009. Since then, Weaver has led his side to promotion from the National League North all the way to League Two, he also won the FA Trophy in 2019 when his side beat Concord Rangers.
In total, Weaver has managed 772 games for Harrogate in which he’s won 300 of these games which gives him a win ratio of 39%.
Player To Watch
Centre half Anthony O’Connor has been excellent at the heart of the Harrogate defence this season. He has the most clearances per game in the league, with just under 11 per game. O’Connor has played more than 100 games for Harrogate and has been a big factor in their consolidation in League Two.
Midfielder Bryn Morris joined the club from Newport County in January he has made a positive impression on the Harrogate supporters so far. Morris has picked up three goals and three assists this season during his spells in South Wales and Yorkshire.
The Sulphurites leading marksman is Josh March who has found the net six times this season. He comes into the game off the back of scoring the winning goal in his side's last outing where he sealed all three points against Accrington Stanley
Last Time We Met
Harrogate Town 0-1 Port Vale, Tuesday 22nd October 2024
The sides met earlier in the season on a cold Tuesday night at the Exercise Stadium and it was the Valiants who returned home with the three points after a hard-fought victory.
Vale thought they’d gone ahead in the first half when Conor Grant’s corner was met by Ben Heneghan, but his powerful header was somehow saved by James Belshaw who pulled off one of the saves of the season as he clawed the ball from underneath the crossbar to deny the Vale centre back.
Ruari Paton and Tom Sang both came close either side of half time as they had efforts that went agonisingly wide of the post.
The winning goal came ten minutes after the break when Ruari Paton found the back of the net with an exquisite 25-yard free kick which left Belshaw with no chance as it curled over the wall, before dipping underneath the crossbar and into the back of the net to send the travelling fans into raptures to maintain Vale’s nine game unbeaten streak.
Ref Watch
Sam Allison is the man in the middle for tonight’s fixture. He will be assisted by Andrew Fox and Ian Cooper. Danny Guest will be for the fourth official.
This will be the first time that Allison has taken charge of a League Two game this season, having spent all season in the higher leagues. He has also taken charge of two Premier League games this season: Manchester City’s 4-1 win at home to Ipswich Town and Ipswich’s 1-1 draw against Southampton.
So far this season Allison has taken charge of 26 games and in this time, he has shown 106 yellow cards and one red card.
The last time Allison refereed a Vale game was back in the 2022/23 season when oversaw our 3-2 home defeat against Burton Albion in March 2023.
