Midfielder says that Burton Albion are going to come to Vale Park for a battle and it will not be an easy game.
- Tom Pett | “Burton will come here for a battle and we need to be ready!”
- Port Vale’s Tom Pett speaks to the press ahead of Saturday’s League One clash with Burton Albion
- Pett: “I think that we were very unlucky not to come away with the win last weekend, but we have gone through what we could have done better.
Port Vale midfielder Tom Pett says the Valiants need to be prepared for the challenge Burton Albion will present when the Brewers visit Vale Park on Saturday.
Burton were bottom of League One after just seven matches when current manager Dino Maamria stepped up from his role of assistant manager to Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink to take the reins.
Having collected 31 points in the 29 matches since, the Brewers arrive in Burslem five points above the League One relegation zone, with a game in hand on many of the sides around them.
Speaking about our East Staffordshire opponents, Pett said:
“I know their manager well; he was my assistant manager at Stevenage and I know what his teams look like.
“They are going to come here for a battle and I’ll make sure we’re ready for that. As a team and a group, we’ve done our analysis and we will know a lot about them. It certainly won’t be an easy game.”
The Valiants head into Saturday’s clash on the back of consecutive home league victories, having defeated both Exeter City and MK Dons in our last two League One fixtures at Vale Park.
Those results came either side of a draw at Fleetwood Town last weekend and narrow defeats at both Morecambe and Bolton Wanderers, where the general consensus was that Darrell Clarke’s side deserved more.
“When the performances were good and we weren’t getting the results, it was a frustrating time and we came away from games and thought ‘what did we do wrong there?’
“It has been about sticking with the process; we knew if we stuck with that, the outcomes would eventually turn in our favour and they have in the last couple of weeks.
“I think that we were very unlucky not to come away with the win last weekend, but we have gone through what we could have done better.
“There are some high quality players in this league and some big teams. If you give them one or two chances, they’ll put them both away. We have learnt that we need to be ruthless in front of goal, more than we were last season and we have spoken about it. We don’t just want to win by one, we want to win by two or three and be comfortable in games.”
Pett has returned to the starting XI since last month’s win against Exeter City, establishing himself in the side of late.
Including Ben Garrity, who has missed the last couple of Vale fixtures through injury, Pett says the options are strong in the midfield area.
“We’re all quite experienced; we’ve got a number of games under our belt and we understand what each player’s strengths are,” he explained.
“Even when I wasn’t in midfield, those three guys were and everyone knows their strengths; Funso [Ojo] has been able to get forward a little more, knowing that I can sit back and clean up for him and TC [Tom Conlon], as well as getting on the ball and creating things.
“As my career has gone on, I’ve gradually come further back, that used to be me - scoring or getting the assists! It is about the team, though, as much as your individual accolades and performances. I’ll take not being the star man in the newspaper in the weekends to win a game.
“It is enjoyable to watch those guys flourish and make goals, but for me, its about cleaning up and doing the hard yards.
“Its one of my strengths in that position, there are a lot of second balls in this league that you have to jump on. You have got to be strong, you have to be combative, you make the tackle, you make the header.
“It’s a strength of mine to read it, to try and make that first pass and I think once we’ve made that first pass, it makes a hell of a difference to us and we can actually possess the ball, rather than chase it and be defending it again.
“You look at last weekend and we were going to start with a two [in midfield] during the game to a one and a two. I think different points in the game maybe call for different systems. In a two, there are differences to a three. You are more man for man than you maybe would be if you’re a deep lying midfielder. You can get more and more time on the ball, but then sometimes as a two you can get forward a little bit more – Forest Green away, for example, I managed to get myself in the box and got a nose bleed for getting too high, maybe!”