The Valiants are back on the road as we make the trip to Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday evening.
Jon Brady's side comes into Tuesday’s game following a brilliant performance and a 1-0 victory over promotion-chasing Bolton Wanderers. George Hall’s strike in the first half was all that separated the sides at Vale Park on Saturday afternoon.
Post Bolton Thoughts
Here’s what the boss had to say about Saturday’s win:
“It was good to bounce back after Tuesday night. To beat a team who are unbeaten in their last thirteen and 3rd in the league is a really good result today”.
About Doncaster Rovers
Doncaster is a city located in South Yorkshire, around two hours away from Vale Park. They play their home games at the Eco-Power stadium, which has a capacity of just over 15,000. Doncaster were promoted last season from League Two as league champions, finishing four points above the Valiants.
The visitors made a positive start to the new season, winning five out of their opening seven games. Since then, Rovers have been inconsistent, struggling to string a run of form together. This has left them sitting in 17th position in the league, five points above the relegation zone. They come into Tuesday night’s game against the Valiants off the back of a 1-0 win away at Barnsley.
The Opposition Dugout
Grant McCann is the man in charge at Rovers. Grant was appointed manager of the Yorkshire club in 2023 following a nine month spell as Peterborough United gaffer. This is Grant's second spell in charge at Doncaster after he had a spell there in the 2018/19 season, before making the move to Hull City. In his 166 matches to this point, McCann has won 81 games, leaving himself with a 49% win percentage.
McCann also had a seventeen-year playing career between 1998 and 2015. The former midfielder began his playing days with West Ham and went on to make four Premier League appearances. His longest spell at a club was with Peterborough United between 2010 and 2015. During this time, he won the Football League Trophy and was part of the squad that secured promotion to the Championship in 2011.
Fixture Throwback
Doncaster Rovers 1-2 Port Vale, 26th January 2016
The Valiants have a decent record in Doncaster, winning four out their last five games there. One of these victories came just over ten years ago when an AJ Leitch-Smith double claimed all three points for Rob Page’s side.
After withstanding some early pressure, Vale took the lead with six minutes on the clock. A ball into Leitch-Smith bounced up off the striker before Vale’s number 20 delicately lifted the ball over the goalkeeper and into the far corner.
With twenty-five minutes of the contest left, Leitch-Smith grabbed his and Vale’s second goal of the game. Following some good work by fellow striker JJ Hooper, AJ took the ball around the keeper and found the bottom corner to send the travelling Valiants into celebration.
Doncaster did grab a late consolation goal after Cedric Evina’s cross found its way into the net, but that wasn’t enough, and Vale came away with all three points.