As Mansfield Town travel to Burslem this evening, we bring you all you need to know building up to the fixture.
Fixture – Port Vale vs Mansfield Town
Date – Tuesday 21st November 2017
Venue – Vale Park
Preview
Port Vale will hope to make it five games unbeaten in all competitions, and six points at home since Saturday.
The Valiants entertain promotion-chasing Mansfield Town who currently sit 8th in League Two are unbeaten since mid-October.
It was the 14th October when the Stags last lost as Swindon Town defeated them 3-1 at the One Call Stadium. A win for Vale would see them leapfrog a few more places up the league table as they attempt to play catch-up with the rest of the division.
The Opposition
At the start of the campaign, Mansfield Town would have been a name who were favourites for the League Two title. Currently, they sit 8th just two points behind Coventry City who sit in the final play-off position.
After a poor start in the league last season, manager Steve Evans took over in November 2016 and managed to get the Stags back in the promotion hunt. He has managed to continue this going into the 2017/18 season where they have remained unbeaten in eight games.
Talk
Neil Aspin: “It was essential that we picked up points early, if we went on another run of games without winning then we would have a mountain to climb. Now, we are in a fight with a lot of other teams. It’s encouraging to see that the players can fight, they can scrap and they can graft.”
Steve Evans: “We've got some special players here and we know what's cost us in recent weeks has been sharing the spoils as opposed to winning games that we really deserve to win.”
Team News
Antony Kay will be missing through suspension after he picked up five yellow cards in all competitions. Ben Whitfield is yet to return from injury but could be back within the next couple of weeks. Rob Lainton and Joe Davis are still unavailable.
The only issue for the Stags will be striker Lee Angol, as he continues to recover from his knee injury.
Coverage
iFollow the Vale will be providing full 90-minute commentary from the match, while the Port Vale Twitter and Facebook feed will be providing live updates for the entirety.
There will also be build-up to the game with the official Snapchat account: officialpvfc.
Reaction will be available on the official website post-match, as well as on YouTube, iFollow and social media.