Vale head into Saturday’s game at Lincoln City still without a number of players due to injury problems, but Antony Kay will be available for selection after serving a one-match suspension.
Neil Aspin’s men will be looking to bounce back from the defeat to Mansfield Town last time out, and the return of Kay will provide the manager with more depth, with Tyrone Barnett also back in contention.
The striker has trained during the past week and he featured for the reserves on Wednesday afternoon as they hosted Oldham Athletic in a friendly.
“Tyrone has got himself in a position where he has been training now for about a week, with Wednesday’s reserve game being his first for a while,” said Aspin
“I would expect that he’s in contention for being in the squad on Saturday.”
Rob Lainton and Ben Whitfield are two players who aren’t ready to be called back into action yet, but the manager also provided an update on their respective recoveries.
He said: “I’ve been told that Rob can start training, but he’s been doing his rehab and he’s been out on the training pitch, just not playing any football.
“His date where he can return if the fourth of December so that’s obviously getting closer now.
“You want as many players to pick from as possible and once he comes back it gives us more competition in the goalkeeping department.”
“As for Ben, I’m hopeful that he will be training next week, so all being well, he would be in contention for the FA Cup game against Yeovil.”
With the January transfer window approaching, Aspin and his staff have been paying close attention to potential transfer targets and the gaffer has been watching plenty of football.
“There were some decent ones in the Champions League, but I don’t think we will be getting any of them!” Aspin joked.
“There are always players that are recommended and ones that you go and have a look at, but we have names in mind and we’ll see if we can do anything in January."