The Valiants travelled to Chester in their latest pre-season fixture on Saturday and Michael Brown handed a full 90 minutes to a number of players in his squad.

With the Sky Bet League Two season now just days away from kicking off, Danny Pugh knows how important match fitness is and he was one of the players who played the whole game during the 1-1 draw.

A goal from Rekeil Pyke handed Vale the lead on the hour mark, but Nyal Bell levelled for the home side just eight minutes later. Speaking about the game, Pugh admits it was a tough test.

He said:" It was a difficult game, but the perfect one for us and the type of challenge we needed. We are going to come up against teams like that this season.

"We are feeling good. It has been a tough pre-season and we have got plenty of work in. There are still bits we need to brush up on, but I think the lads are looking good and looking fit."

Pugh himself got his first full 90 minutes under his belt during Saturday's game. He also wore the captain's armband, but he knows that he can't read into that too much.

He said: "Getting that first 90 minutes in my legs was good. I got 80 on Wednesday so to get a full game in today was important and I'm feeling good.

"With regards to the captaincy, I'm not looking into it at all. There are a lot of lads in there who are leaders and I don't think it's that important who goes out there and wears the armband.

"We have all got to lead both on and off the pitch as a group of players."