Boss says it is a chance for the players to showcase themselves
Micky Adams says that despite AFC Wimbledon’s recent run of form, Vale must go out there on Thursday evening and show why they are the league leaders.
He said: “Wimbledon are in a good run of form at the moment and it’s perhaps not the best time to play them, but we are the league leaders and we have got to go out there and embrace the fact that we are top of the league.
“There will be a live TV audience so once again it’s a chance to showcase ourselves as a football club and as a team.
“It’s a chance for the players to showcase themselves as individuals and we are looking forward to the game.
“We haven’t played them yet this season because the game in December was called off, but having said that, our scouts have been out and watched them.
“We know that they have strengthened their team lately with Peter Sweeney, an ex-Stoke player, so I am sure he will get a nice reception from the Vale faithful.”
Vale will show Wimbledon the same respect they show every team in the division, but at the same time they will show that they fear nobody.
“They are in a decent run of form, but we treat every team the same, we do our due diligence on them and hopefully we know their strengths and weaknesses and hopefully we will give them more problems than they give us.
“I want us to stick our chests out and not exactly crow about it, but we are top of the league and we are there for a reason.
“After the amount of games we have played this season we are top, we are there on merit and we want to rubber stamp the fact that we are top of the league and maybe put a little bit of daylight between ourselves and the chasing pack.
“I think Northampton were the biggest beneficiaries of the weather on Saturday. I went to watch them play and how they got the game on I’ll never know, but they did.
“They took three points and that’s an important three points to them, but we’ve got first crack at it on Thursday night and if we can manage to beat Wimbledon it will be a great boost for us.”