In the lead up to tomorrow’s Capital One Cup first round tie against League Two, Hartlepool at Vale Park, assistant manager Rob Page spoke about the challenge in picking the right team and leaving players worthy of being chosen out of the side.
Page explained: “It’s a difficult situation to be in, but overall we have a good group of lads here. Understandably you’re going to be disappointed, but they aren’t going to react in a negative way.
“They know that some point during the season they will get the nod and at that point they need to be ready and professional to go and put a performance in.
“We’re confident that we know our strongest starting eleven and that goes to show on Saturday.”
Rob and Manager, Micky Adams, will be having a discussion later today to decide who will be in the team, because they feel there are a lot of players who warrant a starting place in the team.
He continued: “It’s always a nice problem to have when you have problems choosing your team, because you’ve got fifteen players that have done really well and deserve the jersey.
“I don’t know the team at the moment, it’s up to the manager, but we’ll have a discussion this afternoon and decide where we’re going to go with it.
“It’s getting the balance right. Do we want to keep that momentum going after getting a draw on Saturday or should we give a few players a rest and freshen it up a bit?
“That’s something we’ll look at in the next twenty-four hours, and we’ll make the decision from there.”
Page believes the Valiants can’t take anything for granted against Hartlepool who are a league below.
“We have to be professional against any team we play against, you have to show them the respect they deserve.
“I know players like Tommy Miller myself, who’s got a fantastic pedigree behind him and is a talented footballer.
“They also have Marlon Harewood up front who I’ve played against many a time and know what he’s all about.
“He’s got experience at the top level, which will make it a tough test for us tomorrow.”
You can view Rob Page’s full interview on Valiant Player later on today.