Sam Foley made his long awaited return to Vale first team action at the weekend, during the Valiants’ 3-0 home defeat to Peterborough United.

Foley spent just over three months in the side-line, with his last game coming in a 2-2 draw against Oxford back in October.

Captain Ben Purkiss comments in his number 11’s comeback: “It’s good to have Sam back. I thought his energy was excellent throughout the game. I thought he did well and it will be good to welcome him back to the fold.”

Foley came back into a much change side since the last time he appeared in a Vale shirt.

Making their debuts against Peterborough were Italian goalkeeper Leonardo Fasan and the experienced Danny Pugh.

Purkiss commented on their debuts: “With the new lads they may need time to settle in and bed themselves in. I feel that Fasan dealt with corners and crosses well, and it is never easy for a goalkeeper to adjust so quickly, and he made an excellent save for the penalty.”

“Danny Pugh came on and he is someone that can give us a bit of discipline in the center of midfield, with a bit of nous and experience and you need that”, he added.

Port Vale have a weeks preparation to bed all of their January signings into the squad before making the trip to London for two games in the space of four days , the games coming against Gillingham and Millwall.

The 32-year old comments on Vale’s recent performances and subsequent results: “We feel like we have been making progress in the last few weeks and you can see that in the performances, but today was probably a step backwards. Hopefully we can take a step forward from here and rebound in the next game.”