Port Vale are on the road as they make the trip to Huddersfield Town on Boxing Day.
The Valiants go into Friday's clash with the Terriers following a 1-0 defeat to Peterborough United on Saturday.
Post Peterborough Thoughts
Here’s what the gaffer had to say after the weekend's result:
“It was a tight game and a game where there was a moment of lapse of concentration again and they capitalised on it.
“A game of two halves where we had the chances to go and score and we didn’t capitalise on them.”
Our Opponents
Huddersfield Town were a Premier League side less than ten years ago. They stayed in the top flight for two seasons until they finished bottom of the league and were subsequently relegated.
Since then, the Terriers spent four seasons in the Championship before they were relegated to the third tier in 2024.
Town currently sit in seventh position, three points outside the play off spots. They had a good start to the season, claiming 12 points from their opening five games. However, Huddersfield hit a rough patch in September, which saw them drop to seventh, and they haven’t been able to get back to their best. The Yorkshire club come into the Boxing Day clash off the back of a 3-1 win away at Rotherham United.
The Opposition Dugout
The man in charge at Huddersfield is Lee Grant. Lee was appointed head coach in May this year following the dismissal of Jon Worthington. This is Lee’s first managerial role following his recent retirement from playing; however, he did have a three-year spell as Assistant Manager to Kieran McKenna at Ipswich Town.
Lee had a playing career that lasted twenty years, with him playing for a host of clubs across England, most notably Manchester United. The former goalkeeper also had a brief spell at local rivals Stoke City towards the back end of his career.
Player to Watch
A player for the travelling Vale fans to keep an eye out for is attacking midfielder Leo Castledine. Leo is Huddersfield’s top scorer this season with seven goals, smashing his career best up to this point. The 20-year-old is currently on loan from Premier League side Chelsea.
Fixture Throwback
Huddersfield Town 3-4 Port Vale, 8th November 2008
Vale haven’t met the Terries a lot in recent years, but did pick up a victory in 2008 when the two sides met in the FA Cup.
The Valiants took the lead in Yorkshire after Louis Dodds latched onto a poor pass-back, before rounding the keeper and slotting home into an empty net. However, the hosts levelled the scores on the stroke of half-time after Michael Collins rounded off a good team move.
Vale would find themselves 3-1 down with twenty-five minutes left as goals from Ian Craney and Robbie Williams seemed to have put Huddersfield on course to a win.
What followed was something quite extraordinary. David Howland grabbed a goal back for Vale after he delicately lifted the ball over the keeper, a goal which started the comebacks of all comebacks. Louis Dodds got Vale on level terms with five minutes of the tie to play after he smashed the ball home on the half volley from a tight angle.
The comeback was completed deep into stoppage time. Marc Richards stood over a free kick just outside of the penalty area, and let fly, firing an effort into the top corner, sending the travelling Vale fans into bedlam.
