Port Vale will host Sam Ricketts’ Shrewsbury Town, at Vale Park this evening, in their first game of the Leasing.com Trophy group stage. After picking up their second win of the season at home to Cambridge United last Saturday, the Valiants will be hoping they can kickstart a cup run. You can find all of the key information regarding the game, below.
Fixture: Port Vale vs Shrewsbury Town
Competition: Leasing.com Trophy
Date: Tuesday 3rd September 2019
Kick-Off: 7:45 pm
Venue: Vale Park
Referee: Leigh Doughty
Port Vale
Manager: John Askey
Form: DDDWLW
Top Goal Scorer(s): Richie Bennett (3 goals)
The Valiants will be looking to secure a second win on the bounce today, as they try to capitalise on the momentum from the weekend to secure their first three points in the Leasing.com group.
The Vale will hope to carry on their success from last years EFL trophy run, where they reached the Quarter Finals. The run saw them win all their group games, including a 4-0 win over Stoke City’s U21 side, and included a 4-3 penalty win over Shrewsbury in the third round.
John Askey may take the opportunity to rotate some of his squad, possibly giving starts to new signings Jake Taylor, Shaun Brisley and Jordan Archer. Manny Oyeleke and Rhys Browne both remain side-lined by hamstring injuries. That aside, Askey has a fully fit squad to choose from.
“I think momentum is key and if it’s a friendly, a cup game of any sort, I think we want to win it, we don’t want to go into games thinking ‘we’re not too bothered about it’, we want that winning mentality around the place.”
Nathan Smith, Port Vale Defender
Shrewsbury Town
Manager: Sam Ricketts
Form: WLDWDL
Top Goal Scorer(s): Ryan Giles, Fejiri Okenabirhie, Daniel Udoh(1 goal)
Sam Ricketts’ side will be hoping to bounce back after suffering a 3-0 defeat away at Ipswich Town, in which they were also reduced to 10 men in the first-half.
League One Shrewsbury have had a mixed start to their season, starting off with a win at home to Portsmouth before back to back defeats, including a 4-0 home defeat to Rotherham in the Carabao Cup, before going three games unbeaten until last Saturday.
Town’s team are still without winger Fejiri Okenabirhie after he suffered a hamstring injury. Defender Ro-Shaun Williams and midfielder Ollie Norburnare both doubts, but Sean Goss may be alliable for selection.
One to watch: Ethan Ebanks-Landell
Centre-back Ebanks-Landell, joined Shrewsbury Town from Wolverhampton Wanders this summer on a three-year deal, and has already made himself a mainstay in the middle of their back three.
The 26-year old is a youth product of the Wolves academy having joined aged nine, and worked his way into the first team, where he played 42 times and scored five goals.
Whilst at Wolves he was part of their 2013/14 League One title winning side, and during a loan spell at Sheffield United in the 2016/17 season again was able to win League One.
Ebanks-Landell had numerous loans away from the Molineux during his time at the club, where represented Bury three times, Sheffield United, Milton Keynes Dons and Rochdale, before earning a move to Shrewsbury.
Talk:
John Askey: “The league’s the most important, but we’ll be wanting to win on Tuesday and you never know, you get a bit of a run and all of a sudden you can be in the quarter-finals or the semi-finals.”
Sam Ricketts: “We will naturally have to make some changes anyway and then we will assess from there. It could be an opportunity for some people to gain match fitness.”
Coverage:
iFollow The Vale will be providing full 90-minute commentary from the match, whilst the Port Vale Twitter and Facebook feeds will be providing live updates for the entirety.
There will also be the build-up to the game with the official Snapchat and Instagram accounts: officialpvfc
Reaction will be available on the official website post-match, as well as on YouTube, iFollow and social media.