On Saturday, Vale face the challenge of Charlton Athletic in our final away trip of the campaign.
The Addicks are currently mid-table, sitting in 11th place, whilst Vale are lying 17th in League One.
Here is some interesting pre-match reading before the fascinating clash against Charlton this weekend.
The view from Andy Crosby:
“The message is absolutely the same from me; togetherness, unity, discipline, hard work, making sure we are a League One football club. We have put ourselves in a better position after last week’s performance,” said Crosby.
“A large number of fans are travelling down to London to watch the game, so we owe it to ourselves, to them, and the football club to approach this game in exactly the same way we did last week.”
Opposition Boss’ thoughts:
“Andy Crosby took over they lost narrowly to Ipswich, 2-1, and then they had a good win against Bristol Rovers last week,” said Dean Holden.
“He’ll have his team fired up for that and there are players within their squad, as there are within ours, who are playing for contracts either at their respective club or elsewhere.
“That’s why I always say I don’t care what part of the season it is or what position you’re in the league - it doesn’t matter. They’re professional footballers and there’s plenty to go for; there’s pride, there’s three points and as a professional that should mean everything to you. It will be a good game for that reason.”
Fixture Flashback:
Sky Bet League One, Vale Park, Tuesday 18th October 2016: Port Vale 1-1 Charlton Athletic
We travel back to the 2016/17 campaign and a late penalty from Alex Jones secured a point for the Valiants against the Addicks at Vale Park.
Charlton took the lead after half an hour when Frederik Ulvestad poked home past Jak Alnwick after Rickey Holmes cut back the ball for the forward.
Vale got their equaliser with just five minutes to go after Jones was impeded in the area, and they were awarded a penalty.
Jones then stepped up himself to slam home from the spot and add to his tally for the season, a campaign in which he ended top scorer for the Valiants with 10 goals.
We fashioned many chances in the second half before we got our leveller, and the Valiants nearly netted through Rigino Cicilia when he headed Sam Hart’s cross over the bar.
Unfortunately, the point would not help Vale in the long run as we were eventually relegated to League Two, but we are back now and will be searching for victory on Saturday.
Reverse Fixture:
Sky Bet League One, Vale Park, Saturday 19th November 2022: Port Vale 1-0 Charlton Athletic
Back in November, Danny Butterworth produced a beautiful second-half solo goal to secure Vale three points against Charlton Athletic at Vale Park.
Our number 26’s moment of brilliance came just before the hour mark to fire Vale into the lead, which in turn gave us victory.
The move started at the back when David Worrall drilled forward a lovely long ball, which Butterworth took down expertly, before driving into the box and firing low into the bottom left-hand corner.
We made five changes to the side that faced Oxford United last weekend, with Jack Stevens returning in between the sticks for Vale, and James Wilson starting up top after coming back from injury.
Our first chance of the match came after 15 minutes through the returning James Wilson, but after a nice one-two with Tom Conlon, his effort from distance flew over the bar.
The first half was a cagey affair between the two sides, and Wilson perhaps had the best chance of the period when he drove to the edge of the area before striking a low-driven shot that went just wide of the post.
The Valiants nearly found the breakthrough via Mal Benning in the 54th minute when he curled an effort just wide of the far post after being found by Butterworth.
Charlton’s second-half substitute, Chuks Aneke, produced the visitors' first meaningful effort of the match, but after a swivel to break free of a Vale defender, he couldn’t keep his effort down.
Butterworth was once again involved in the action as we searched for a second, however, he couldn’t quite keep his powerful effort on target after marauding forward into space with 20 minutes left.
Stevens produced an unbelievable fingertip save in the final minute of normal time to prevent the visitors from netting an equaliser after the ball had crept through to Jack Payne to fire toward goal from inside the box.
Form: LWLWL
07/04/23: Bristol Rovers 1-0 Charlton Athletic, Sky Bet League One
10/04/23: Charlton Athletic 3-2 Burton Albion, Sky Bet League One
15/04/23: Ipswich Town 6-0 Charlton Athletic, Sky Bet League One
18/04/23: MK Dons 0-1 Charlton Athletic, Sky Bet League One
22/04/23: Charlton Athletic 2-3 Morecambe, Sky Bet League One