Dodds looks ahead to JPT tie
Port Vale’s Louis Dodds is targeting a return to the Vale first 11 when the Valiants host Bury in the first-round of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tomorrow (19.15).
With competition rules stating that only four changes can be made Dodds is hopefully he will be involved from the start after coming on as a late substitute in the 3-1 defeat to Wolves.
Dodds said: “There’s quite a few of us that have been waiting for the opportunity so hopefully if I get it I can take it and hopefully nail down a place.
“That’s what I want to do, it has been a long old few weeks waiting and watching and getting 20 minutes.
“Hopefully I can get a start and show him (Micky Adams) what I can do.
“When you come on you have to kind of condense everything down to 20 minutes so you do more than you should be doing really,” he explained.
“Hopefully I’ll get a start and we’ll go from there and show the fans and the management why I should be playing.”
Bury were relegated to SkyBet League 2 last season but Dodds reckons Vale must be wary of their attacking threat.
Dodds said: “It’s a good competition for us, it’s one of those that has a massive carrot at the end of it in getting to Wembley, hopefully we can do that.
“They’re a division below us but they’re free scoring, we’ll have to show them a lot of respect because they’re flying at the minute.”
Dodds’ favoured position is in the hole behind a main striker but the versatile forward is happy to be playing anywhere on the pitch after starting on the bench for Vale in the opening games of the season.
“Anywhere where I can get on the ball, I like playing upfront with Tom, playing in the hole and if I am out wide I can drift in.
“I think at the minute because I haven’t played many games I am just happy to start anywhere,” he explained.
A sure-fire way to identify a players favourite position is to see where they’re playing in training matches, although Dodds admits being labelled a forward has its perks.
He joked: “In training the midfielders have to do a bit of running so I class myself as a striker and do a bit of shooting instead.”