Port Vale travel down south to the JobServe Community Stadium, as they face Colchester United for the second fixture of their Sky Bet League Two campaign, hoping to push on from their impressive win last weekend. You can find all the information for the game below.
Date: Saturday 11thAugust 2018
Kick Off: 3:00pm
Competition: Sky Bet League Two
Venue: JobServe Community Stadium
Last visit to Colchester: Colchester 1 - 1 Port Vale
Referee: Robert Lewis
Port Vale
Form: LDWDLWDLLW
Suspended: Antony Kay
Top Goalscorer last season: Tom Pope
Neil Aspin’s side will be full of confidence heading into this weekend’s clash with Colchester United, following their inspired 3-0 win over Cambridge United last Saturday at Vale Park. A brace from Tom Pope, as well as a debut goal for Vale forward Ricky Miller, saw the Valiants cruise to victory in their season opener and they’ll be hoping for more of the same this weekend.
Though Aspin is aware of a few slight niggles to a couple of his players, the gaffer is extremely positive heading into the fixture and has expressed his desire to attack John McGreal’s side rather than sitting off and soaking up pressure. The Vale boss insists that playing away from home will not affect how his side will play.
The Valiants will have no higher incentive to perform this weekend, as they play their first fixture since the passing of life-long Vale fan, Tony Evans. A minute’s applause will take place during the 65thminute of the game.
Colchester United
Form: LWLWDLLDWD
Top Goalscorer last season: Sammie Szmodics
Colchester will be looking to get their first three points of the season this weekend, following their opening day draw away to Notts County. Though United came close to a late winner through a Tom Eastman shot striking the bar, McGreal had to settle for a point with Kevin Nolan’s side.
The U’s have certainly had a busy transfer window bringing in eight new faces to the JobServe community stadium including Frank Nouble from Newport County, Harry Pell from Cheltenham Town and a loan deal for Aaron Collins from Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Colchester have struggled of late against the Valiants, as their last victory over Vale came back in 2015, playing out two draws and one loss since.
Talk:
Neil Aspin: “You would love to have that momentum continue for several games, but every game is different, and it will be a tough test against a team that I expect to be challenging at the top end of the table. We have to be positive and we have got to play to our strengths because they will want to push us back, but we are not going there to sit deep - we have to be positive ourselves.”
Luke Joyce: “It'll be a tough game, they've recruited well over the summer. I've always had difficult games when I've been down there, but we're not going out there to impress anyone, we know we've got a job to do. We'll go out there, frustrate them, make it hard for them to impose their game on us and we'll try and beat them."
Coverage:
Follow The Vale will be providing full 90 minute commentary from the match, while the Port Vale Twitter and Facebook feed will be providing live updates for the entirety.
There will also be build-up to the game with the official Snapchat account: officialpvfc.
Reaction will be available on the official website post-match, as well as on YouTube, iFollow and social media.