'DJ' ready if required for Saturday's match

Defender Daniel Jones is hoping to be considered for selection tomorrow after missing out in Vale’s last few games trough injury.

He managed ninety minutes for the reserves in Wednesday’s home defeat to Morecambe and is champing at the bit for more match action.

He said: “I am just positive and really confident after getting through the ninety minutes – I stiffened up around the sixty/seventy minute mark, but I was fine.

“I have looked at what I have been doing and started doing things a little bit differently with my gym stuff so hopefully that will sort itself out and then I can keep fit now.

“I am not saying that I deserve to get straight back into the side. The boys have done really well with back to back wins and the defence have done better in the last couple of games.

“I am fit and if I am needed I would love to play. Rob Page told me to see if I could get through the ninety minutes the other day but if I felt anything I was to come off as a precaution.

“I did my best to get through the ninety minutes and I felt a hundred times better the following day for it.”

Like everybody else, Jones is at pains to understand why Saturday’s opponents Bristol City have so far struggled to settle in to League One football after their relegation from the Championship last season.

“You look at the players they have got and at their qualities and it is hard to understand what is going wrong with them, but this league is a lot different to the Championship.

“It might be a bit more physical, a bit more rough and tumble and maybe they are not used to that. You can’t play pretty football away from home and I suppose they will find that out on Saturday when they come here.”