Darren Moore's side will be backed by more than 1,800 travelling Valiants on Saturday as we make the trip to Prenton Park to take on Tranmere Rovers.
Vale will be looking to maintain our unbeaten start to 2025 which continued on Saturday with a 2-1 victory over Salford City. Goals in each half from Antwoine Hackford and Rekeem Harper helped Vale to victory at Vale Park.
Gaffer's Thoughts
Here’s what Darren Moore had to say following our last outing against Salford City:
“It was a valuable three points against a dangerous opponent who didn’t make it easy for us at all. But it is another hurdle, and I am really pleased the group found a way to get the three points.”
The Gaffer also looked ahead to Saturday’s lunchtime trip to Prenton Park:
“In terms of how we look at the game, it’s a different challenge, a different hurdle. It’ll be good to see Andy Crosby on Saturday, He knows the game inside out, he’ll know what he wants to do with them on Saturday. But we know what we want to do, we know the arena that we’re going in to and we just have be ready for it.
“It’s a different game to what we saw on Saturday against Salford, we’ve prepared for a different game and the biggest thing for us is that we need to be ready.”
The Opposition
Tranmere Rovers sit third from bottom in Skybet League Two, two points above the drop zone. They come into the game without a win in their last ten games. Their last victory came on the 4th January when they won 1-0 against fellow strugglers Carlisle United.
Rovers come into the game off the back of a 1-0 defeat at home to Accrington Stanley on Saturday. This result signalled the end for manager Nigel Adkins who was sacked by the club on Tuesday night following a poor run of results.
In Tranmere’s 17 league games at Prenton Park this season they have won four, drawn eight and lost five. They gave conceded the most goals in the league after letting in 52 goals in their 33 games so far. They have also scored the least number of goals as they have found the net just 17 times this season, which on average is round about a goal every other game.
Who’s in Charge?
Following a poor run of results Nigel Adkins parted ways with Tranmere earlier this week. A few days later the club announced that former Vale manager, Andy Crosby, would take charge of Saturday’s game.
Crosby initially joined Vale in 2021 when he was added the clubs coaching staff. In February 2022, Crosby was put in charge of the Valiants after Darrell Clarke took an extended period of leave. Crosby guided the Vale to the play offs and as Darrell Clarke came back into his role as manager, he allowed Crosby to lead the Valiants out at Wembley in the play-off final which we would go into win.
When Darrell Clarke was left Vale in April 2023, Crosby was appointed first team manager of Port Vale before being sacked in February 2024.
After a few months away from football, Crosby joined Tranmere Rovers in December 2024 where he joined his old manager Nigel Adkins in the dugout at Prenton Park.
Player to Watch
Omari Patrick is the clubs leading scorer this season with eight goals in all competitions. The 30-year-old winger has 12 goal involvements from his 38 games played this season.
Tom Davies has been another stand out player for Tranmere this season, his defensive performances this season haven’t been befitting of a team who has conceded the most amount of goals in the league this season. Davies is in his fourth year with the club and he has experience in League Two having won promotion with Coventry City and Portsmouth.
The 25-year-old striker joined Tranmere in the summer after leaving Wimbledon. He’s made over 150 EFL appearances, scoring 37 goals along the way. His most prolific season came in 2021/22 when he scored nine goals in 24 games for Swindon Town, helping them to a play-off spot. However, they were eventually beaten in the semi-finals by The Valiants. Notably, Davison missed the penalty that could have booked his side a place at Wembley in the play-off final.
Fixture Throwback
Tranmere Rovers 0-1 Port Vale, Saturday 28th September 2013
Vale’s recent record against Tranmere hasn’t been great, In the last eight games there has been four draws and four Tranmere wins.
The last time the Valiants won at Prenton Park was back in 2013 when the sides met at the start of the 2013/14 season.
The Valiants came close to opening the scoring in the first half when Doug Loft’s low effort had the beating of Owain Fon Williams but it struck the post before going behind for a goal kick.
Moments later, Vale were awarded a penalty when Chris Birchall was bundled over in the box by Liam Ridehalgh who was shown a red card. Tom Pope stepped up for the Valiants but saw his spot kick saved by Fon Williams who guessed the right way and pushed it to safety.
Vale took the lead ten minutes into the second half when Chris Lines curled a freekick over the wall and into the top corner from 25 yards, before running the length of the field to celebrate with the visiting Vale supporters.
The hosts should have levelled soon after when Ryan Lowe’s low effort was parried by Chris Neal into the path of Jean Louis Akpa-Akpro who missed an open goal from 5 yards out.
Ref Watch
David Rock will be the man in the middle for Saturday’s game at Prenton Park. He will be assisted by Jacob Graham and Emmanuel Edet. Benjamin Speedie will be the Fourth Official.
So far this season David Rock has taken charge of 23 games, predominantly in League One and Two. In these games he has dished out 98 yellow cards and four red cards.
He last took charge of The Valiants in our 1-0 victory at MK Dons earlier this season.
