Micky says it is down to the player

Joe Davis came back from a loan spell with Luton Town to play against League One leaders Brentford on Saturday and he impressed in the heart of the Vale defence.

He says he would like the opportunity to cement his place here with the Vale and Vale boss Micky Adams says it is down to the player himself.

He said:“You can’t say that he has not had chances. His performances will dictate whether he has got a future at the football club.

“Because he has come through the ranks, I have said it many times before, I don’t get sentimental about things like that. They are either good enough or they are not good enough, there is no hidden criteria.

“A few years ago when I first came to the football club it was littered with players that had come through the youth system and there was a little bit of sentimentality towards them all.

“I haven’t got that, my criteria is are you good enough? If you are good enough you will have a future and if not we will move you on.

“But Joe is aggressive enough and he can handle the ball. He’s not a towering centre half so he has to be careful about the balls he goes for.

“As a centre half sometimes you can’t win every header and he has got that competitive streak that sometimes says ‘I can win everything’.

“What experience gives you is you have to know which headers you can go for and the ones you can’t, and which ones you have got to leave alone.

“He has got match fitter. When he first went to Luton John Still said to me that he didn’t think he was fit enough. I questioned that and said he might not be match fit enough.

“He is fit enough because he has worked with me every day and he has been in a winning side so it has not done him any harm.”