Port Vale travel to Moss Rose this afternoon looking to pick up their second win there this campaign, following a 3-2 victory in Cheshire in the Leasing,com trophy last month. Vale are unbeaten in there last four games, yet are still searching for their first away win in the league this term. However, John Askey’s men will be going into this one full of confidence following a 3-1 win against Morecambe last weekend. You can find all of the key information, below.
Fixture: Macclesfield Town v Port Vale
Competition: Sky Bet League Two
Date: Saturday 12th October 2019
Kick-Off: 3:00 pm
Venue: Moss Rose
Referee: Darren Handley
Port Vale
Manager: John Askey
Form: WLDDW
Top Goal Scorer: Bennett (4)
The Valiants will be looking to make it two wins on the bounce this afternoon when they travel to Askey’s old stomping ground, Moss Rose. A first away win in the league is still proving elusive for the Vale, but have proved to be unlucky after some impressive performances away from home; most notably their most recent away game at Leyton Orient.
Askey spoke in the week regarding the importance of this fixture, and labelled tomorrow’s test as “massive”. The Vale’s home form has seen them rise to a very respectable 10th position, just three points off the play-off spots.
It has been an injury plagued start to the campaign for Vale, yet this weekend see’s the return of some key players as the squad nearly returns to full fitness. Emmanuel Oyeleke, Tom Conlon and Callum Evans still remain side lined, but Crisitian Montano and Mark Cullen are once again available for selection and James Gibbons is back from suspension.
“We know the importance of Saturday’s game, it’s a massive game for us because if we can get to 20 points after 13 games, it puts us in a real good position.”
John Askey, Port Vale Manager
Macclesfield Town
Manager: Daryl McMahon
Form: LDLDD
Top Goal Scorer: Theo Archibald
Following an impressive start to the campaign, the Silkmen find themselves struggling at the moment as they are without a win in the league since late August. Their only victory since was a win in the Leasing.com trophy back in early September, they have since picked up just four league points and find themselves 14th in Sky Bet League Two.
Despite falling to defeat against Vale earlier in the season, Macclesfield picked up four points from a possible six in the league against the Valiants last season and may take confidence from that.
Macclesfield manager Daryl McMahon will come into this one with a fully fit squad to choose from.
One to watch: Theo Archibald
Archibald joined Macclesfield in the summer from Brentford and has since been a standout performer under Daryl McMahon.
The Scottish midfielder is predominately utilised as a wide-man and is the Silkmen’s top scorer so far this campaign with four in all competitions; one of which came in their 3-2 defeat to Vale last month.
Archibald played his youth career at Celtic yet moved to Brentford in 2017 following a loan spell at Albion Rovers for six months prior. He was then loaned out to Forest Green for the 2018-19 season but a lack of game time forced a recall to Brentford.
At just 21-years-old, Archibald looks like a bright spark in the Macclesfield team, and will look to cause Vale problems this afternoon.
Talk
John Askey: “It’s huge, and I’ve been there before when Vale have come and when they get behind that bottom goal it’s not nice for the home keeper at all because they’re so close, and he’s a young keeper as well who made a couple of errors last Saturday against Cambridge and that is the reason they didn’t win the game, so I wouldn’t want to be their keeper on Saturday.”
Daryl McMahon: “It’s exciting, these games you look forward to over the course of the season, big crowds, local derby and you want to show everyone how good you are in these games as a player.”
Coverage:
The Port Vale Twitter and Facebook feeds will be providing live updates for the entirety.
There will also be the build-up to the game with the official Snapchat and Instagram accounts: officialpvfc
Reaction will be available on the official website post-match, as well as on YouTube, iFollow and social media.