Adams expecting a battle on Saturday

Micky Adams knows what to expect on Saturday afternoon when Stevenage are the visitors to Vale park (kick off 3.00pm) and he knows Vale are in for a tough ninety minutes.

Although Stevenage are sitting close to the bottom of the table, it is something the Vale boss has seen before and there will be no complacency in the Port Vale dressing room.

The Vale boss said: “If you look at the history of Stevenage, and particularly under Graham Westley, I think one year they were in the lower echelons of the league round around Christmas time and came on in a fantastic run in the second half of the season and managed to get promoted under Graham.

“I am sure he would have liked them to start a bit quicker, but certainly you don’t write them off, you can never underestimate them as a team when Graham Westley is in charge.

“You know what you are going to get. They are going to be up and at you, they are going to make it very difficult for you.

“They have got a physical presence about them, but they have got a sprinkling of players that can cause you problems as well.”

With Christmas approaching, this could be an extremely important period for any football club, and Vale are no different, something Micky touched on.

He said: “They say there are crucial periods in football seasons – the start, Christmas time and obviously Easter, when games come thick and fast

“We have got to be a professional as we possibly can – I say to the players it is not an eating and drinking competition this time of year, let other people do that.

“Let’s concentrate fully on the task ahead, let’s be good pros on the pitch as well as off it and if we can do that I have got every confidence with the fixtures we have got that we can pick up points, but we have got to perform.”