Port Vale’s 2016/17 FA Cup campaign ended with a defeat away at Huddersfield Town on Saturday.
Not only are they out of all cup competitions this year, but their League One campaign may have taken a fatal blow as well, after Jak Alnwick and Remie Streete took knocks at the John Smith’s Stadium.
However, Anton Forrester made his long awaited return to action against the Terrier’s and JJ Hooper is nearing full fitness after his spell on the sidelines.
Manager Michael Brown spoke exclusively to Valiant PlayerHD after the game about the club’s attacking concerns: “We only have on striker. We have Jerome Thomas who is doing his best to try and help us, but we need to try and get him on the wing if we can.
“But we are working on that and hopefully we will be able to give Anton a reserve game if possible to increase his fitness, and hopefully we will have JJ Hooper to come back in.”
The knock taken by Jak Alnwick was a pivotal moment in the game against Huddersfield Town as Brown outlines: “Then we lost Jak, and when you lose someone like him, organising the back four as he does always proves difficult. Then the deflection goes in and away they go, and from then on we could not cope with it.”
As well as being blighted by injury, the 39-year old is aware of the differences between his side and the home side on the day, and is aware that his squad needs improving: “We need to try and change the mentality, because some can’t do it so we have to look at trying to change that and some just need to improve.
He continued: “Some players have not played in a while and will get there, but it is a balancing act all of the time and that is what we are trying to achieve.”
Vale return to league action as they host MK Dons this coming Saturday, and they will be looking to return to the kind of form that have shown in the league under Brown so far.